Maya: Good evening, and welcome to Marin Night Skies for Friday, October second, twenty twenty-six. I'm Maya.
Devon: And I'm Devon. It is five o'clock in the evening in Mahrin, the sun just set, and tonight the sky is lining up nicely. Let's get you outside after this.
Maya: The headline act is still Saturn. It reaches opposition on Sunday, October fourth, which is the moment Earth passes directly between Saturn and the sun. That makes tonight and the next few nights the best views of the ringed planet all year.
Devon: It rises in the east right around sunset, it's up all night, and it sets at dawn. At magnitude near zero it's the brightest thing in the southeast after dark, glowing steady and gold. A small telescope shows the rings tilted just slightly, with the south face turned toward us.
Maya: And the moon is cooperating tonight. We are past the full moon, so it is a waning gibbous, about sixty percent lit, and it doesn't rise until around eleven o'clock at night. That gives you a dark window from nightfall until about ten for the Milky Way and the faint stuff.
Devon: Take advantage of it, because this is one of the last months to see the Milky Way's bright core from the northern hemisphere. Look south and southwest after dark. Then, around the new moon on October tenth, point a pair of binoculars at the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object your eyes can see on their own, two and a half million light years away.
Maya: Now the planets. Venus is slipping away from the evening sky. It's heading for inferior conjunction on October twenty-fourth, so it may still hang low in the western twilight right after sunset, but catch it quickly, because it's nearly gone.
Devon: Mars is a morning planet now, rising after about one in the morning, glowing orange-red in the east before dawn. Mark two dates. On Monday morning, October fifth, the waning crescent moon pays Mars a close visit. And from October tenth through the twelfth, Mars drifts right through the Beehive star cluster, a gorgeous binocular sight.
Maya: Jupiter is the bright cream-white beacon in the east before sunrise. And on Tuesday morning, October sixth, the waning crescent moon covers Jupiter in an occultation, visible in darkness across the eastern and central United States. From California, just enjoy the moon and Jupiter rising close together before sunrise.
Devon: Meteor watchers, mark Thursday, October eighth. The Draconids peak on the night of the eighth into the ninth, and unlike most showers this is an evening shower, so don't stay up late. Just look northwest after nightfall. There's no moonlight to fight this year, and no outburst is expected, so plan on about five meteors an hour, slow and easy to spot.
Maya: The Orionids peak October twenty-first and twenty-second, but a bright moon will interfere. The Southern Taurids are already active, with a broad peak from mid-October into November.
Devon: And a binocular bonus. Asteroid four Vesta reaches opposition on October thirteenth, its brightest of the year, and the moon hides the Pleiades in a lunar occultation on October twenty-seventh into the twenty-eighth.
Maya: Now, viewing conditions here in Mahrin. Tonight is pretty good. The evening starts partly cloudy, but skies clear late, with temperatures falling to around sixty degrees. The best window is from nightfall through about ten or eleven o'clock, before the moon rises.
Devon: The caution is fog. A weak marine layer means patchy fog can develop late tonight along the coast and in the valleys, so Point Reyes and the low spots may cloud over after midnight. The Mount Tamalpais summit sits above the marine layer and should stay clear.
Maya: And heads up for the weekend, a heat wave is building. Saturday could reach the mid nineties in San Rafael, with a heat advisory running from Saturday through Monday. Late-night stargazing will be warm, so stay hydrated in the daytime.
Devon: Finally, space weather. The Noah Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G1 minor geomagnetic storm watch for today, October second, from a glancing solar eruption, but the peak came during daylight hours and conditions are settling through the evening, with the Kp index falling from around four down to about two overnight. No aurora for northern California. The effects stay poleward of sixty degrees latitude.
Maya: That's the sky for tonight, Mahrin. Dark until the moon rises, Saturn at its best, and the Milky Way on its way out. We'll see you tomorrow.
Devon: Clear skies, everyone.