Stargazing and skywatching from Cosmic Herald — what to see in the night sky, meteor showers, planets, auroras, and observing guides.
A coronal-hole wind stream finally pushed Earth to G1 (Kp 5) at 23:59 UTC on Oct. 21, about a day behind forecast. NOAA now expects a second disturbed spell around Oct. 24, and a slow CME could deliver a weak glancing blow on Oct. 26-27.
Read the story →NOAA forecasts G1 geomagnetic storming as fast wind from a coronal hole reaches Earth, while sunspot AR4551 fired an M1.7 flare on Oct. 19. Forecasters disagree on timing, and high-latitude skywatchers have the best odds.
This week the Orionids peak under a bright, growing Moon, the Moon passes Saturn on Oct. 23-24, the Hunter's Moon is full at 12:11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 26 and rises at sunset Oct. 25, and on Oct. 27-28 it slides past the Pleiades.
Giant sunspot AR4551 fired an M-class flare on Oct 16 while Earth's magnetic field stays quiet, and the Orionid meteor shower peaks Oct 21-22 under a 74%-lit moon that sets a few hours after midnight, leaving the pre-dawn hours for meteor watching.
Venus reaches inferior conjunction at 04:00 UTC on Oct. 24 (11 p.m. CDT Oct. 23), passing 6.6 degrees south of the Sun. It leaves the evening sky and should reappear low in the east before dawn in early to mid-November.
Earth-facing sunspot region AR4551 has spent days in a beta-gamma-delta configuration and has produced most of the Sun's flares, all C-class so far. NOAA puts the chance of an M-class flare at 25% through Oct 18 and says an X-class flare is possible.
Four days after an M6.4 flare and a G3 storm, a coronal-hole stream topping 600 km/s is buffeting Earth. EarthSky says G1, maybe G2. NOAA's newest outlook peaks at Kp 3.67, below storm level. High latitudes have the best shot.
The Taurids are slow to build and produce only about 5 meteors an hour per stream, but they're known for bright fireballs, and there's little moonlight to get in the way this autumn. The catch: no enhanced swarm is predicted until 2032.
Mercury swings 25 degrees from the Sun on October 12, giving Southern Hemisphere skywatchers their best evening look at the planet in 2026. Most northern observers will find it hugging the horizon.
The Orionids, debris from Halley's Comet, peak the night of Oct. 21-22, but a bright waxing gibbous Moon will drown out the faint ones. Your best shot is the dark window after moonset and before dawn, when 10 to 20 meteors per hour are possible.
Two M-class flares from sunspot region AR4549 launched CMEs on Oct. 6, and NOAA expects one to arrive early Oct. 9 with G1-G2 storming (Kp up to 5.67). Skies will be dark, with the Moon nearly new.
Saturn reached opposition on Oct. 4 at magnitude 0.3 and about 784 million miles away. It is the year's best window on the ringed planet, and the same week brings a predawn lunar occultation of Jupiter for eastern North America.
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