{"id":788214,"date":"2026-10-01T05:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788214\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T05:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:32:14","slug":"those-two-bright-morning-stars-thats-mars-and-jupiter-and-the-pair-are-going-to-be-spectacular-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/788214\/","title":{"rendered":"Those two bright morning stars? That&#8217;s Mars and Jupiter \u2013 and the pair are going to be spectacular this month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mars and Jupiter have some spectacular close encounters \u2013 with each other and with other celestial objects \u2013 in October 2026.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve noticed two bright stars in the east before dawn, those two &#8216;stars&#8217; are actually the planets Jupiter and Mars. You may have already spotted them without even knowing it.<\/p>\n<p>And Jupiter and Mars are going to get closer to one another as October 2026 draws on.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in autumn 2026, it&#8217;s safe to say the planets are back \u2013\u00a0and Mars and Jupiter are set to be one of the highlights.<\/p>\n<p>You can use our chart below to see how Mars and Jupiter will be located relative to each other \u2013 and the Moon \u2013 in October 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Person-looking-at-night-sky.jpg\" alt=\"Person looking up at stars and planets in the night sky, stargazing. Credit: M-Gucci \/ Getty Images\" class=\"wp-image-183452\"\/>Credit: M-Gucci \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1616\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/mars-jupiter-october-2026.jpg\" alt=\"Mars and Jupiter are a treat for planet-watchers in October 2026. This chart shows how the planets will get closer to one another as the month rolls along. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-193813\" style=\"width:841px;height:auto\"\/>Mars and Jupiter are a treat for planet-watchers in October 2026. This chart shows how the planets will get closer to one another as the month rolls along. Credit: Pete Lawrence<br \/>\nMars meets the Moon<\/p>\n<p>The first meeting for your stargazing calendar is a close one between Mars and the Moon in the early hours of 5 October 2026.<\/p>\n<p>At around 03:30 BST (02:30 UT), the 32%-lit waning crescent Moon sits 1.4\u00b0 northwest of Mars (measured from the Moon\u2019s centre; the Moon has a tangible size of half a degree).<\/p>\n<p>As time passes, the Moon moves east, eventually aligning with Mars around 05:50 BST (04:50 UT), with just 41 arcminutes between the two.<\/p>\n<p>By this time, the dawn will be brightening the sky, but mag. +1.1 Mars and the Moon should remain obvious up to and beyond the point of closest approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Moon continues east, lining up for an encounter with Jupiter on the morning of 6 October.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"704\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/mars-moon-5-october-2026.jpg\" alt=\"Mars meets the crescent Moon in the early hours of 5 October 2026. Credit: Stellarium\" class=\"wp-image-193827\"\/>Mars meets the crescent Moon in the early hours of 5 October 2026. Credit: Stellarium<br \/>\nThe Moon and Jupiter<\/p>\n<p>This one isn\u2019t so conveniently timed: at 06:00 BST (05:00 UT) on 6 October, the 21%-lit waning crescent Moon will appear 2.4\u00b0 to the west and a little north of Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>The gap continues to close as the sky brightens, with the Moon\u2019s centre passing just 30 arcminutes south of mag. \u20131.9 Jupiter at 11:20 BST (10:20 UT).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With an apparent diameter of 30 arcminutes, this places Jupiter just 15 arcminutes from the Moon\u2019s northern cusp at this time.<\/p>\n<p>That presents a fantastic opportunity to try to locate the planet under daylight conditions (as long as you\u2019re able to find the Moon first, of course).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/mars-beehive-cluster.jpg\" alt=\"Mars and the Beehive Cluster, photographed by Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-164168\"\/>Mars and the Beehive Cluster, photographed by Pete Lawrence<br \/>\nMars and the Beehive<\/p>\n<p>The next encounter occurs between 10 and 12 October, when Mars makes a run in front of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/astrophotography\/stars\/star-clusters\/beehive-cluster\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beehive Cluster, M44<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This conjunction will provide an excellent chance to document the movement of Mars photographically, assuming the weather is kind.<\/p>\n<p>Mars will appear embedded in the cluster on the mornings of 11 and 12 October, this particular conjunction taking it right across the core region.<\/p>\n<p>Mars and Jupiter&#8217;s tango, October 2026<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the rest of the month, Mars appears to close in on bright Jupiter. They will have a close meeting on 16 November when they will appear just 1.2\u00b0 apart.<\/p>\n<p>But before that happens, there\u2019s another interesting arrangement to look out for.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As Mars approaches Jupiter, its separation from the brighter planet becomes similar to the apparent distance between Jupiter and Regulus (Alpha (\u03b1) Leonis).<\/p>\n<p>Early in the morning on 16 October, the three objects will appear in a line, making them look a little like the Belt of Orion, although they will have very different brightnesses. Have a look yourself and see what you think.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re observing Mars and Jupiter in October 2026, share your images, observations, sketches, drawings, poems with us by emailing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/mailto:contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mars and Jupiter have some spectacular close encounters \u2013 with each other and with other celestial objects \u2013&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-788214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}