{"id":191665,"date":"2025-09-30T06:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/191665\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T06:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T06:32:14","slug":"the-night-sky-this-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/191665\/","title":{"rendered":"The Night Sky This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A spectacular view of the night sky in Alaska, featuring a vibrant, swirling display of the Aurora Borealis above a distant mountain range<\/p>\n

getty<\/p>\n

Each Monday, I pick out North America\u2019s celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the northern hemisphere). Check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.<\/p>\n

The Night Sky This Week: Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2025<\/p>\n

The week opens with the moon at first quarter and closes with the full harvest moon glowing near Saturn, but there\u2019s more going on in the sky than our natural satellite growing in brightness. It\u2019s a great week for finding Fomalhaut, the \u201cAutumn Star,\u201d one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It\u2019s close to Saturn, which remains in the shrinking planet parade<\/a> before dawn. It\u2019s also worth being ready to chase aurora this week because, in the few weeks after the fall equinox<\/a> (which occurred last week), geomagnetic activity can produce more intense Northern Lights<\/a> and Southern Lights. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about stargazing and astronomy this week:<\/p>\n

ForbesNorthern Lights Alert: Why Aurora Could Now Suddenly SpikeBy Jamie Carter<\/a>Monday, Sept. 29: First Quarter Moon<\/p>\n

Tonight, half of the moon\u2019s Earth-facing side is lit, marking the first quarter phase. The bright waxing gibbous moon will now rise later each evening and brighten the sky toward full phase in a week.<\/p>\n

Friday, Oct. 3: The \u2018Autumn Star\u2019 Shines<\/p>\n

StellariumFriday, Oct. 3: The \u2018Autumn Star\u2019 Shines<\/p>\n

After dark, a waxing gibbous moon (87% lit) shines directly above Fomalhaut, the \u201cAutumn Star,\u201d with Saturn about the same distance to its left. Fomalhaut is the brightest star in Piscis Austrinus, visible from mid-northern latitudes only in autumn. Fomalhaut sits low in the south. <\/p>\n

Saturday, Oct. 4: Capella And Arcturus<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a changing of the guard going on in the night sky. Two seasonal stars \u2014 Capella in the northeast and Arcturus in the west \u2014 shine at nearly equal brightness. Capella, in Auriga, heralds winter\u2019s approach, while Arcturus in Bo\u00f6tes bids farewell to summer.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Oct. 5: Harvest Moon And Saturn<\/p>\n

StellariumSunday, Oct. 5: Harvest Moon And Saturn<\/p>\n

The almost-full harvest moon, 98%-lit, rises about three degrees to Saturn\u2019s upper left in the evening sky. Although Saturn\u2019s rings are nearly edge-on this year, even a small telescope will show them. Neptune lies just to Saturn\u2019s left, but it\u2019s invisible without binoculars or a telescope.<\/p>\n

The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like Stellarium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spectacular view of the night sky in Alaska, featuring a vibrant, swirling display of the Aurora Borealis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[15952,6626,7042,78763,79,7115,780,111628,1507,111629,63335],"class_list":{"0":"post-191665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-astrology","9":"tag-astronomy","10":"tag-moon","11":"tag-night-sky-tonight","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-shooting-stars","14":"tag-solar-system","15":"tag-stargazing-tonight","16":"tag-stars","17":"tag-when-is-full-moon","18":"tag-when-is-new-moon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}