Skywatcher's Guide: October and November 2025

Skywatcher's Guide written by: Lucas Snyder (Flandrau Planetarium Specialist)

Navigation

• Stars and Constellations
• Solar System
• Calendar of Night Sky Events
• Deep Sky
• Frequently Asked Questions

Stars and Constellations

In October, only a small portion of the spring sky is still visible at the beginning of the night.  The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) is low in the north-northwest.  As always, the last two stars in the bowl point to Polaris, our north star, in the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor).  You can also still follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to Arcturus, the bright star in Boötes, now low in the west-northwest.  The summer constellations are also visible for a good portion of the night, starting the night in the middle of the sky.  The Summer Triangle is almost directly overhead, with Vega closest to the west-northwest, Deneb closest to the northeast, and Altair closest to the south.  The summer Milky Way is still prominently streaking across the sky, cutting from the northeast to the southwest.  Scorpius with the bright star Antares is now getting low in the southwest, and the nearby "teapot" of Sagittarius in the south-southwest.  The fall sky is now very prominent, taking up most of the eastern sky at the beginning of the night.  The "W" of Cassiopeia is easy to spot in the northeast, with Perseus just below.  The Great Square of Pegasus is up in the east, and Andromeda nearby in the east-northeast.  There is also a fairly bright star called Fomalhaut in the southeast, though its constellation Piscis Austrinus is not easy to distinguish.

In November, all but a few of the spring stars are now gone, and the summer constellations are starting to get lower in the west.  Deneb is the highest point of the Summer Triangle, with Vega below to the west, and Altair towards the southwest.  The brightest part of the summer Milky Way is now gone, but a good portion of it is still easy to distinguish.  Scorpius is now gone, but the "teapot" of Sagittarius is still above the horizon in the southwest.  The fall sky is now a little higher, but still in the eastern half of the sky.  We can now begin to see a few winter stars coming up along the eastern horizon, namely the bright Capella in the northeast and Aldebaran in the east-northeast.  Also look for the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters or Subaru) star cluster just above Aldebaran.

Interesting Stars Visible in October and November (between 7 and 10 pm)

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Solar System

Mercury comes up in the west after sunset in the middle of October and remains visible until early November.

Venus is near the eastern horizon before sunrise, slowly getting lower each day until it sets in early November.

Mars is near the western horizon after sunset, slowly getting lower each day until it sets in late October.

Jupiter is in Gemini, very high in the morning sky throughout October, but gradually moving towards the west during November.

Saturn is between Aquarius and Pisces, getting higher in the east and southeast each evening, eventually ending November high in the south.

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Calendar of Night Sky Events

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Deep Sky

There are many deep sky objects we can see since the summer Milky Way is high in the sky.  There are many open star clusters that can be seen with only binoculars scanning this part of the sky.  For example we have the Butterfly Cluster (M6) and Ptolemy's Cluster (M7) near the tail of Scorpius.  Further north there is the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) in the faint constellation of Scutum between Sagittarius and Aquila.  There is also the asterism of the Coathanger between Aquila and Cygnus in the fainter constellation of Vulpecula.  Next, heading towards the west we can see the Coma Star Cluster in the constellation of Coma Berenices, which is even visible naked-eye.  The Pleiades (M45) will be visible later in the night, after midnight.

There are a several globular clusters we can see as well, as the center of our galaxy is the highest it gets for the year.  Near the bright star Antares in Scorpius lies the globular cluster M4.  In Sagittarius we also have the Teapot Cluster (M22).  Of course we have the famous Hercules globular (M13) high in the east.  Also, M15 is visible in the east near the head of Pegasus.

For nebulae, we have several in the plane of the galaxy, one of which is the Swan Nebula (M17) in Sagittarius, also known as the Omega Nebula.  There is also the Lagoon Nebula (M8) nearby and the North America Nebula (C20) further north in Cygnus.  For planetary nebulae we have the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra, the Dumbell Nebula (M27) in Vulpecula, and the Blue Snowball (C22) in Andromeda.

And now the galaxies:  Although the Big Dipper is getting lower in the sky, you may still be able to find some of the galaxies in this part of the sky.  We have the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) near the handle, and the Cigar Galaxy (M82) and Bode's Galaxy (M81) near the bowl.  The spectacular Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is now coming up in the northeast, along with the nearby Triangulum Galaxy (M33).

Interesting Deep Sky Objects to Observe during October and November (between 7 and 10 pm)

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do stars get their names?

There are thousands of stars that can be seen with the naked eye, billions that can be seen with our telescopes, and countless more scattered throughout our universe.  So how do they get named?

For most of history, it was only a few dozen of the brightest stars that had common names, but not all stargazers used the same names or spellings.  It was only in 2016 that the International Astronomical Union started standardizing star names to help eliminate some confusion.  Now, over 500 stars have official names.  These names have many different origins, most commonly Arabic (e.g. Rigel) or Latin (e.g. Sirius).

The stars that don’t have official names are known by various letters and numbers depending on which catalog they are found in (and often they are found in multiple catalogs).  Bright stars usually have a Bayer designation, which is usually a greek letter followed by the genitive form of the constellation name (e.g. α Centauri).  This catalog has been extended to include many variable stars, which use one or two latin letters instead of greek (e.g. RR Lyrae) or sometimes V and a number (e.g. V838 Monocerotis).  Other visible stars usually have a Flamsteed designation, which just uses numbers with the genitive (e.g. 51 Pegasi).

Beyond that, most stars have an ID with a few letters to specify the catalog being used and a number (e.g. HR 3803).  A few common catalog abbreviations are HR (Harvard/Yale catalog), HD (Draper catalog), and GJ (Gleise catalog).  For even fainter stars, they may simply be identified by their coordinates.

This covers most stars you may find in scientific literature or in popular media.  But if you find something else I didn’t explain, feel free to ask me about it!

If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in the next issue of SWG, please let me know.  I'm also happy to take suggestions or comments, and also pictures if you'd like to send them.  Happy viewing!

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Date of publication: 2025