What’s Out Tonight?

A general ASTRONOMY site to get you started exploring the night sky

Optimized for desktops and laptops. CLICK HERE FOR TABLETS.

Mars will be very bright this January 2025

observing 
MArs

October 2024 Sky Chart

It’s Free
Just click on the image to the left to print this
4-page PDF doc.
Useful anywhere in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere including the continental US, Hawaii, Europe, Japan, etc. Optimized for 1.5 hours after sunset but can be used for several hours after that. Indicates visible planets and best objects for binoculars and telescopes. Packed with facts, mythology, Moon phases, meteor showers and more. For other months, see the archive below.

October 2024 Notes

★  About 90 minutes after Sunset ★

Planets
Venus is low in the West and sets about 1.5 hours after the Sun. Saturn is halfway up in the East, in the constellation Aquarius—it is very noticeable but it rings are almost edge on making it a little disappointing to view in a telescope. Jupiter, in Taurus rises in the East around 10PM. Jupiter is alway very bright and easy to spot. Mars, in Gemini rises about midnight and will rival Jupiter in brightest during January 2025.

Constellations
This Summer Triangle is still high, overhead. It points southward towards Sagittarius. The Great Square of Pegasus is halfway up in the southeast, so the Andromeda Galaxy is comfortably visible and can be just glimpsed with the naked eyes in relatively dark skies. The thickest and brightest part of the MilkyWay Band is still around, above the horizon, in the southwest. This is a great area to scan with binoculars because you will encounters clumps or knots of stars as well as traces of some nebulae.

Sky Chart Archives

July 2024
 August 2024
 September 2024
 October 2024
 November 2024
 December 2024

January 2024
 February 2024
 March 2024
 April 2024
 May 2024
 June 2024

December 2023

Header Image
The celestial image used for this site's header is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) visible throughout most of the summer and fall. This triangular wedge is a fainter part somewhat between the two major sections that make up the Veil Nebula and it is called Pickering’s Triangle. I took this image using a 6-inch diameter refractor telescope.

Click to make larger 
and see full image