What’s Out Tonight?

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

Tablet Home Page

I have optimized this site for desktop and laptop computers. 
The whole website would be very restrictive if I formatted it for smaller platforms—sorry! 
This page should read correctly on tablets but not on phones. Most of you who visit this site are looking for the Monthly Sky Chart which is presented here. You will need that desktop or laptop to access and adequately view all the other site information.
Email me, Ken Graun with any questions.

October 2024 
Free Sky Chart

It’s Free
Just click on the above image to get 
and 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 
Sky 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

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

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

December 2023