SkyEye

The Calendar

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for 'wanderer'. Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies, including comets, are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun Virgo → Libra

Mercury Virgo

Now a morning sky object, the planet closest to the Sun is best viewed from northern latitudes. It is occulted by the Moon during the daytime on 11 October and reaches greatest elongation west five days later. It is difficult to observe from the southern hemisphere, lost in the solar glare.

Venus Leo

Venus is occulted by the Moon on 8 October. Later in the month, on 26 October when the planet is at greatest elongation west, bright Venus, red Mars and luminous Jupiter appear very close together in the eastern sky before sunrise. The morning star is high in the east for northern observers and continues to rise higher in the dawn sky. However, the planet stays mostly level when seen from the southern hemisphere.

Mars Leo

Rising well before sunrise, Mars is found in close company with the brighter planets Venus and Jupiter in the dawn sky.

Jupiter Leo

Early in the month, the king of the planets is the last to rise amongst the bright Venus–Mars–Jupiter triplet but by the end of the month, it pulls ahead of the two rocky planets. All three of them will be in exceptionally close proximity on 26 October.

Saturn Libra → Scorpius

Look for the ringed planet in the west after sundown before it gets too low to the horizon to be seen.

Uranus Pisces

At opposition on 12 October, this green-coloured ice giant is at its brightest. Look for it at any time of the night. It is occulted by the Moon on 26 October.

Neptune Aquarius

A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. At opposition early last month, Neptune is still up for most of the night, setting in the west as Venus, Mars and Jupiter rise in the east.