THE 97% ILLUMINATED WAXING GIBBOUS MOON VISITS THE AMAZING RINGED PLANET SATURN THIS SUNDAY! – 05/10/2025
Stargazers and night sky enthusiasts will be in for a special celestial treat this Sunday!
On the night of Sunday the 5th of October, the almost full 97% illuminated waxing gibbous Moon will appear close by to the amazing ringed planet Saturn. This special celestial meeting will make for a beautiful sight in the skies and an excellent photographic opportunity!
WHEN AND WHERE TO LOOK
Look towards the East at around 17:51 BST on the evening of the 5th of October to see the almost full Moon rise above the horizon. A short while later, at 18:12 BST the planet Saturn will rise above the horizon following the Moon.
As the night progresses the Moon and Saturn will continue rising higher in the sky travelling towards the South where they will reach their highest altitude of around 34 degrees high at roughly 23:48 BST. From here they will begin to descend travelling towards the West where the Moon and Saturn will set at roughly 06:05 and 05:41 respectively.
OTHER CELESTIAL TREATS
There are many other celestial treats about at this moment in time too. Here is a small selection of night sky treats to look out for too:
- We have a number of meteor showers active at this moment in time including the Southern Taurid, the Draconid, and the Orionid meteor showers. Although the full moon will drown out all but the brightest of these meteors, it is still worth keeping an eye out for those beautiful streaks of light known as shooting stars.
- The asterism known as the Summer Triangle is a prominent asterism in our current night time skies and can help you find where to view our home galaxy the Milky Way. The brightest stars of the constellations Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila – the stars Deneb, Vega and Altair respectively, create a huge triangle in the night sky known as the Summer Triangle. They are located in a bright section of the Milky Way known as the Cygnus region. The body of the swan Cygnus also creates a cross like shape known as the Northern Cross. If you follow the length of the cross and continue tracing along the direction of this line, this can show you where the rest of the Milky Way stretches across the sky.
- The great Hercules globular star cluster M13 in the constellation of Hercules is an awe-inspiring sight when viewed through binoculars or a telescope and is also visible to the naked eye under favourable conditions. The glow from this Summer time treat (created from a super dense concentration of stars) is fairly easy to see in our night time skies and we recommend you try to find it with your binoculars or telescope.
- Our closest galactic neighbour, the amazing Andromeda Galaxy can be spotted to the eye as a small, faint and fuzzy elliptical shape in the constellation of Andromeda.
- We are now truly within what many people consider the Aurora season! Due to the skies becoming darker, chances of viewing the Aurora are now much higher and the Aurora may now be seen dancing on our Northern horizons on nights of strong auroral activity.
This October is also a fairly good time to spot other bright planets…
- For the early birds or all night stargazers, the brilliantly bright planet Venus can currently be fairly easily seen shining brightly at an impressive magnitude of -3.91 towards the East in the early morning just before sunrise.
- The gas giant Jupiter is also now very easy to spot located in the constellation of Gemini in the early morning skies. Look to the East during the early morning hours and you will be able to spot the bright planet Jupiter.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE NIGHT SKY THROUGHOUT OCTOBER?
If you would like to know more about the rest of the celestial treats that can be seen in the skies throughout October, please head to our YouTube channel to watch our Night Sky Guide video for October 2025.
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND PHOTOGRAPHS!
We always love hearing about your celestial adventures and seeing your photographs! If you head out to witness or take photographs of this special celestial event or any other sights in the night sky, please feel free to share your stories and photos in the comments below. 😊
GOOD LUCK AND CLEAR SKIES
This special meeting will be a beautiful sight in our night sky, and so if you are able to, we recommend you head out to witness this celestial event.
Good luck if you head out folks. Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Clear skies 💖
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