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The Moon and Planets in October 2009


Diary of Solar System events for October 2009.

The Major Planets in October 2009

Mercury, Venus and Saturn all rise only shortly before the Sun in October so are mostly too low in bright dawn sky to be observable.

Jupiter transits mid to early evening, so is easily visible until well after midnight. Mars rises about an hour before Jupiter sets, so is best seen in the morning before the rising Sun brightens the sky.
Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

The planets in 2009: geocentric events and conjunctions Apparent sizes of the Planets in 2009

Bright Asteroids Jovian Satellites Saturn's Titan Artificial Satellites

Orbital diagrams for the inner planets December 2008 to March 2009, April to July 2009, October to November 2009 and the outer planets for 2009.

Date (NZDT) Diary of Solar System Events in October 2009 for New Zealand
October 3 Mars 6° above star Pollux, morning sky.
October 4 Full Moon at 7:10pm NZDT (06:10 UT).
October 6 Mercury at greatest elongation, 18° west of Sun.
October 9 Moon furthest north, resulting in the lowest southern hemisphere transit for the month.
October 11 Moon at last quarter 9:56pm NZDT (08:56 UT).
October 12 46% lit waning Moon 4.5° from Mars, morning sky.
October 13 Jupiter stationary.
October 14 Venus 35' from Saturn very low in dawn sky.
October 14 Moon at perigee, its closest to the Earth for the Lunar month, 369069 km.
October 15 Crescent Moon, 15% lit, 6.5° to right of Regulus, magnitude 1.4, brightest star in Leo, morning sky.
October 17 Very thin crescent Moon, 3% lit, 5.5° to upper right of Venus very low in dawn sky.
October 18 New Moon at 6:33 pm NZDT, (05:33 UT).
October 21 10% lit crescent Moon less than 4° below Antares, magnitude 1.1, brightest star in Scorpius, evening sky.
October 22 Moon furthest south, resulting in the highest southern hemisphere transit for the month.
October 26 Moon at apogee, its greatest distance from the Earth for the Lunar month, 404169 km.
October 26 Moon at first quarter 1:42pm NZDT (00:42 UT).
October 27 62% lit waxing Moon 3.5° below Jupiter evening sky.
October 30 87% lit waxing Moon 6° to lower left of Uranus evening sky.

Diary events derived from Dave Herald's OCCULT 4

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Notes on the Planets in October 2009

Mercury in October MERCURY is a morning object throughout October but, at its best, rises only 35 minutes before the Sun, at the beginning of the month. As a result the planet is unobservable from New Zealand throughout October.


Venus in October VENUS is also a very low object in the morning sky. It rises 45 minutes before the Sun on October 1, and about half an hour before at the end of the month. The brilliance of the planet should make it visible, but very low between east and northeast a few minutes before sunrise.

On the morning of October 14, Saturn will be just over half a degree to the lower left of Venus. But 20 minutes before sunrise, the pair will be only some 3.5° above the horizon, making any observation, even with the aid of binoculars, very difficult. Three mornings later, the Moon, a very thin crescent less than 3% lit will be 6° to the upper right of Venus. Again, even if the very low Venus can be detected, the Moon will be a difficult binocular object in the morning twilight.

Mars in October MARS continues to rise a little earlier: at the beginning of October times range from 3.25 am at Auckland to 4.20 am at Invercargill. By the end of October it will rise almost an hour earlier. Hence the best time for viewing will continue to be about an hour before sunrise. Mars will then be visible about 30° round from the north to northeast

The planet starts October in Gemini, where it will be about 6° from the similarly coloured star Pollux, magnitude 1.2, for the first week. On the morning of the 13th, it will move into Cancer, and moves further into the constellation during the rest of the month. By the end of October the planet will be on the edge of M44, Praesepe or the Beehive star cluster.

Jupiter in October JUPITER will be very slow moving in Capricornus throughout October. It is stationary on the 13th when its retrograde westerly motion through the stars will cease and it will commence moving forward again to the east. The planet will be quite close to the 4th magnitude star ι Cap all month, much of the time the two being less than half a degree, the Moon's diameter, apart.

At the beginning of October Jupiter will transit, that is be at its highest and due north, close to 10 pm for many places in New Zealand. In the extreme south transit is half an hour later at Invercargill. The time of transit advances by 2 hours during October. Thus Jupiter is well placed for viewing all evening throughout the month.

The 63% lit Moon will be 3.5° below Jupiter on the 27th, the two being closest for NZ viewers immediately following sunset. Neptune will be between 6 and 6.5° from Jupiter throughout October.

Saturn in October SATURN is another planet in the morning sky which is unobservable due to being low in the morning twilight, rising only shortly before the Sun. The is particularly at the start of October when the planet rises only 10 minutes earlier. It does rise a little more than an hour earlier at the end of October, but will still be too low for observation.

Those with a good, sea, horizon to the east may be able to use Venus as a marker to spot Saturn using binoculars, shortly before sunrise on the 14th and 15th.

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