October will be an interesting month in the sky. Unmistakable Saturn will rule the southern skies with a steady, pale-yellow light. Not only will it be a joy to observe, but its predictable motion, like the other orbiting planets and the Moon, can be used to find other stars and constellations. Currently, Saturn is in the constellation Pisces (the Fish) just to the lower left of the dim circlet of stars that represent the western fish. If the sky is not really dark, the circlet can best be observed with binoculars. It just fills the field of view of my wide-angle binoculars. The rest of Pisces extends as a string of stars from the northeastern part of the circlet, first to the east and then north to the eastern fish, but the stars are so dim that it is difficult to trace out the pattern.

Saturn and the circlet can be used to find the Great Square of Pegasus (the Winged Horse), which is above them. The Great Square is formed by four equally bright stars that form an almost perfect square that is tipped on one corner when rising or setting. It is about the size of a fist held at arm’s length. It represents the front half of the winged horse. The back half never made it into the sky – or is traced out in the black of the sky. The winged horse always flies across the sky upside down. Its neck extends westward from the southwestern star of the Great Square as a line of two stars that turn up at the end to form the horse’s face. Its front legs extend upward from the northwestern star of the Great Square. The upper star of each leg is easy to find close to that star of the square. The rest of the legs extend northwestward but are dimmer.

The northeastern star of the Great Square is a part of both the Winged Horse and Andromeda (the Princes). The main stars of Andromeda extend northeastward as two slightly diverging curved lines of three stars. The outer, or southern line is brighter than the inner line of stars. If extended, the outer line will point to the brightest star in Perseus (the Hero). Some people see the rest of the stars of the constellation as a ragged letter K. I see a glob of stars.

In Greek mythology, Perseus was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danae. When an adult, he was sent by King Polydectes, who wanted to court Danae, on a mission to cut off the head of the Gorgon Medusa, beings so monstrous that if you looked at one, you were turned to stone. Perseus was successful, and Medusa’s blood fell into the sea, mixed with sea foam, and Pegasus was born. Perseus then either rode away on the Winged Horse or flew beside him using the winged sandals that he had been given by the god Hermes (Roman, Mercury). On their flight, they came upon and rescued Andromeda, who her parents, Cassiopeia (the Queen) and Cepheus (the King), were reluctantly sacrificing to Cetus (the Sea Monster), but that is another story.

Observing Highlights

-Oct. 5: The bright Moon will be close above Saturn. If the Moon is too bright to see Saturn, mark the spot and look again in a few days when the Moon has moved away.

-Oct. 6: The full Moon tonight is the closest to the autumnal equinox, and as such, it is called the Harvest Moon. In olden days, this full Moon rising at sunset was important because it gave farmers additional light after sunset to harvest their crops. Also, at this time of the year the angle of the rising Moon is fairly flat, and as a result, the Moon rises only a few minutes later each night. It’s almost like having a full Moon for several nights in a row. This can be observed by watching the rising Harvest Moon. It will move dramatically to the right as it rises.

-Oct. 10: After they rise at about 10:00, the Moon will be to the upper left of Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus (the Bull) and farther to the lower right of Capella, the brightest star in Auriga (the Charioteer).

-Oct. 13: After they rise shortly after midnight, the Moon will be above very bright Jupiter and to the upper right of Castor and Pollux, below Castor, the twin stars of Gemini (the Twins).

-Oct. 19: Just before dawn, the crescent Moon will be to the right of brilliant Venus, which is dropping closer to the Sun.

-Oct. 24: In the early evening, the crescent Moon will be just below bright Antares in Scorpius (the Scorpion) very low in the southwestern sky. If you see them look to their right and a little lower for Mercury and dimmer Mars close to its upper right. Look about 20 minutes after sunset. Binoculars probably will be needed.

-Oct. 29: Mercury will be at its highest for this orbit, but still very low in the western sky.