Please contact me if you'd like to sign up for one of my astrophotography classes and take images like this! Classes run for two hours, and we provide a Dwarf3 smartscope to connect to and use throughout the night. You'll learn how to find your way around the night sky, how to capture images of various deep sky objects as well as how to process them. Additionally, 50% of proceeds help donate telecopes to local schools! You learn, they learn!
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Located close together in the constellation Sagittarius, these three nebulae are prominent star-forming regions situated about 4,000 to 5,000 light-years away within the Milky Way's Carina–Sagittarius Arm.
M8 (Lagoon Nebula): A colossal emission nebula and stellar nursery spanning ~110 light-years across. It is visible to the naked eye under dark skies and famous for its central "Hourglass Nebula" core, intense ultraviolet radiation from hot young stars (like Herschel 36), and a distinct dark dust lane resembling a lagoon.
M20 (Trifid Nebula): Located just north of M8, it is renowned for its three-part visual structure. It is a rare combination of three nebula types: a glowing red emission nebula trisected by dark dust lanes, a cool blue reflection nebula wrapped around its northern edge, and the dense dark obscuring lanes (Barnard 85) that carve it into lobes.
IC 4685: A fainter, complex complex of emission and blue reflection nebulae situated just east/northeast of the Lagoon Nebula. It is often captured in widefield astrophotography as the misty backdrop to the young open cluster Collinder 359, threaded with intricate dark dust tendrils.
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Color with ZWO DuoBand filter
- Guiding Equipment: Celestron Starsense Autoguider
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: Celestron
- Light Frames: 25*6 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 10*6 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight (incl. Star Removal using Starnet2), Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise
October is a real treat this year, and one of the best months of 2026 to have a telescope set up in the backyard. Saturn has its best night of the year right at the start of the month, the moon slides directly in front of Jupiter before dawn on the 6th, Mars wanders right through the Beehive Cluster, and the cooler, longer nights finally make it a little more comfortable to stay out late here in Central Texas. Here's what I'm keeping an eye on this month.
π Moon Phases
Last Quarter, October 3. Half lit, rising around midnight and riding high before dawn. The waning moon spends the next few mornings visiting the planets, passing near Mars and the Beehive Cluster on the morning of the 5th, then sliding right in front of Jupiter on the 6th. More on that one below, because it's the event of the month.
New Moon, October 10. No moon in the sky at all, which opens up the darkest stretch of the month, roughly the 5th through the 15th. This is the week for galaxies, nebulae and anything faint. A couple of evenings later, on the 12th, look low in the west right after sunset for a razor thin crescent moon sitting near Mercury. You'll want a clear, flat view to the western horizon for that one, and binoculars help.
First Quarter, October 18. Half lit in the evening sky, and a great night to point a telescope along the terminator, that line between light and shadow, where the craters throw long shadows and really stand out.
Full Hunter's Moon, October 25. The moon is officially full at 11:12 PM CDT on the night of the 25th. The Hunter's Moon is the full moon that follows September's Harvest Moon, and the name comes from the old tradition of hunting by its light once the fall fields were cleared. Like the Harvest Moon, it comes up not long after sunset several nights in a row, so you get nice bright early evenings. On the 24th and 25th the nearly full moon parks itself near Saturn, and on the 27th and 28th it swings very close to the Pleiades star cluster. Pretty to look at, but the bright moonlight will wash out the fainter stuff, so save your deep sky hunting for the new moon week.
πͺ Planetary Happenings
Saturn reaches opposition on October 4, and this is its best showing of the year. Opposition just means Earth is passing directly between the sun and Saturn, so Saturn ends up on the opposite side of the sky from the sun. That means it rises in the east right as the sun sets, stays up all night, and sets around sunrise, riding highest in the south around 1 AM. It's also as close and as bright as it gets this year, a steady golden point in the constellation Cetus. The rings, which were turned edge on to us and nearly disappeared back in 2025, have opened up enough to show nicely in even a small telescope. Bonus on opposition night: Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, sits at its farthest point from the planet, which makes it an easy find. And if the 4th is cloudy, no worries, the whole first half of the month gives practically the same view.
Jupiter is a bright morning planet, rising in the early morning hours in Leo and climbing high in the east before dawn. It's the brightest thing in the predawn sky, outshining every star. The big event comes on the morning of Tuesday, October 6, when the moon passes directly in front of Jupiter. This is called an occultation, basically a mini eclipse where the moon blocks our view of a planet. From Central Texas, the moon actually rises with Jupiter already tucked behind it, so we miss the disappearance, but we get the better half. Jupiter pops back out from behind the dark edge of the crescent moon at about 4:10 AM CDT, with the pair sitting roughly 9 or 10 degrees above the east-northeast horizon. That's only about a fist's width up at arm's length, so find a spot with a clear, low view to the east. Reappearances along the moon's dark edge are the dramatic part, since Jupiter seems to appear out of nowhere next to the thin crescent. Binoculars or a small telescope will show it best, and you may catch Jupiter's four bright moons reappearing one at a time in the minutes around it. The next lunar occultation of Jupiter visible from North America isn't until 2037, so this one is worth setting the alarm for.
Mars is also in the morning sky, rising after midnight in Cancer and sitting a little above and to the right of Jupiter before dawn. It has a fun month ahead, drifting toward the Beehive Cluster (M44), a big, loose swarm of stars, and passing right through it around the morning of October 11. Mars is easy to spot with just your eyes as an orange point, but grab binoculars to see it sitting in the middle of that sparkly cluster. Since that's right around new moon, the sky will be nice and dark for it.
Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation on October 12. That's a fancy way of saying it's as far from the sun in our sky as it gets on this pass, which is when it's easiest to catch. Look low in the west during evening twilight, starting about half an hour after sunset. It stays fairly low, so a clear horizon makes all the difference. On the 7th it passes close to Venus, and on the 12th that thin crescent moon joins it.
Venus is wrapping up its long run as the "evening star." It sinks lower into the western twilight each evening and slips between Earth and the sun (called inferior conjunction) on October 24, after which it crosses over into the morning sky. Catch it early in the month low in the west after sunset, including that pairing with Mercury around the 7th. If you get a look through a telescope, it shows as a big, thin crescent right now.
Uranus and Neptune are both well placed for anyone with a telescope. Neptune just passed opposition in late September and is up through the evening, while Uranus, up in Taurus, is visible most of the night as it heads toward its own opposition in late November.
☄️ Meteor Showers
Draconids. This one peaks on the evening of October 8 into the 9th, with the moon only about 1 percent lit, so there's no moonlight to fight. It's a little unusual because it's an evening shower. The radiant, the spot the meteors seem to come from, sits in Draco in the northwest and is highest right after dark, so this is one to watch in the early evening instead of the predawn hours. Rates are usually modest, around 5 to 10 an hour, and no outburst is expected this year. Rating: fair, but a nice excuse to enjoy a dark sky.
Orionids. These are bits of dust left behind by Halley's Comet. The peak lands on the night of October 21 into the 22nd, and the night before is worth a look too. Under a dark sky you might see up to about 20 meteors an hour, and they're fast ones that sometimes leave a glowing trail behind. The catch this year is a bright waxing gibbous moon, about three quarters lit, hanging around for the first part of the night. The good news is it sets in the early morning hours, leaving a dark window before dawn, which is right when Orion is riding highest and the shower is at its best anyway. Rating: fair to good if you wait for moonset.
Taurids. The Southern Taurids reach a small peak around mid October, and the Northern Taurids start up around the 20th. Rates are low, only about 5 an hour, but the Taurids are famous for slow, bright fireballs that can really light up the sky. Their main show comes in November, so think of October as the warm up.
☄️ Comet Watch
No bright comets within easy reach this month. Looking ahead, Comet 2P/Encke, the same comet responsible for the Taurid meteors, should start brightening in December and may get bright enough for binoculars from late January into February of 2027. I'll keep an eye on it.
π Deep Sky Objects for October
The summer Milky Way is sliding down into the west after dark now, and the fall sky is taking over, with Andromeda, Pegasus, Cassiopeia and Perseus climbing high in the evening. Best viewed during that dark stretch from about the 5th through the 15th, especially around the new moon on the 10th.
M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Our nearest big galaxy neighbor, about 2.5 million light-years away, and the most distant thing most of us will ever see with just our eyes. Naked eye under dark skies, a faint, stretched out smudge. Binoculars, an easy oval glow. Telescope, a bright core along with its two little companion galaxies, M32 and M110.
M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. A big spiral galaxy we see face on, but its light is spread out, which makes it faint. Naked eye, only from a truly dark site, and even then it's tough. Binoculars, a large, soft glow under dark skies. Telescope, best at low power, and larger scopes start to hint at the spiral arms.
M15, the Pegasus Cluster. A globular cluster, one of those tight balls of ancient stars. Naked eye, right on the edge of visibility under very dark skies. Binoculars, a fuzzy little star. Telescope, a bright, compact core with stars resolving around the edges.
NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula. One of the closest planetary nebulae to us, the glowing shell a dying sun-like star puffed off into space. It sits low in the south, which works in our favor down here in Texas. Not visible naked eye. Binoculars, a faint round glow from a dark site. Telescope, at low power and especially with a nebula filter, it shows a ghostly ring, sometimes called the "Eye of God."
The Perseus Double Cluster. Two open star clusters side by side, now riding higher in the northeast during the evening. Naked eye under dark skies, a faint hazy patch. Binoculars show it beautifully. A telescope at low power gives one of the prettiest views in the sky, two clusters worth of stars in the same field.
M45, the Pleiades. Also called the Seven Sisters, this young star cluster climbs up in the east by mid evening and is a sure sign the winter sky is on its way. Naked eye, a lovely little dipper shaped group of six or seven stars. Binoculars, the best view of all, with dozens of blue-white stars filling the field. Telescope, use your lowest power, since it's too big to fit in most eyepieces.
Clear skies, everyone.
I've been attempting for an image like this throughout the years. I used a ZWO DuoBand filter to focus on the hydrogen and oxygen in the area. In PixInsight, I deployed a script that converts OSC data to Hubble HSO, revealing Hyrdrogen and Oxygen throughout this part of the sky.
The North America Nebula (cataloged as NGC 7000) is a large emission nebula located approximately 2,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, near the bright star Deneb. Spanning roughly 90 light-years across, its striking shape—which remarkably resembles the continent of North America, complete with a prominent dark "Gulf of Mexico"—is caused by glowing, ionized hydrogen gas energized by intense ultraviolet radiation from massive nearby stars
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Color with ZWO DuoBand filter
- Guiding Equipment: Celestron Starsense Autoguider
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: Celestron
- Light Frames: 25*6 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 10*6 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight (incl. Hubble HSO palette from OSC)), Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise
Hey everyone! Here is your official guide to the night sky for September. As the air turns crisp and nights grow longer, autumn stargazing brings planetary pairings, distant outer planets at their peak, and fantastic deep-sky targets. Dust off those binoculars and telescopes! π✨
π THE MOON & BEST OBSERVING WINDOWS
September 4 – Last Quarter Moon: Rises around midnight, leaving the early evening skies dark for observing before moonrise.
September 11 – New Moon (PRIME TIME): Our prime weekend for deep-sky observation! With zero moonlight, this is the best window for faint nebulae and distant galaxies.
September 18 – First Quarter Moon: Great night for viewing high-contrast crater shadows along the lunar terminator.
September 26 – Full Harvest Moon: The famous Harvest Moon rises shortly after sunset, lighting up the sky near Saturn in the east.
πͺ PLANETARY HIGHLIGHTS & ALIGNMENTS
September 1 (Venus meets Spica): Look low toward the west-southwestern horizon right after sunset. Dazzling Venus shines brilliant white just 1.5° from the blue-white star Spica.
September 6–8 (Morning Moon & Planets): Early risers get a treat before dawn! The waning crescent Moon glides past Mars in Gemini on Sept 6–7, then meets up with Jupiter in Cancer low in the east on Sept 8.
September 13–14 (Moon & Venus Twilight Pairing): A razor-thin crescent Moon sits near brilliant Venus in the evening twilight just after sundown.
September 25–26 (Neptune at Opposition): Neptune reaches its closest point and peak brightness for 2026! Located in Pisces just west of Saturn, it shines at magnitude 7.7—an exciting target to track down with binoculars or a telescope.
Saturn All Month: Saturn rises during the mid-evening in Pisces and shines high in the south after midnight, offering prime telescope views of its ring system as it approaches its October opposition.
π DEEP SKY TARGETS OF THE MONTH
September offers an incredible transition from summer nebulae overhead to autumn galaxies rising in the east. Here are three top targets for the New Moon weekend around September 11th:
1️⃣ The Great Pegasus Cluster (M15) π
Where: Constellation Pegasus
What it is: One of the densest globular clusters in our galaxy, containing over 100,000 ancient stars packed into a glowing core. In small scopes, it resembles a bright celestial snowball.
2️⃣ The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) π
Where: Constellation Triangulum (near Andromeda)
What it is: A classic face-on spiral galaxy and the third-largest member of our Local Group. Under dark rural skies, binoculars reveal it as a large, soft oval glow.
3️⃣ The Veil Nebula (NGC 6960 / NGC 6992) πΈ️
Where: Constellation Cygnus (high overhead near the zenith)
What it is: The shattered, filamentary remnants of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago. Using an O-III or UHC filter on a telescope reveals intricate, lace-like ribbons of glowing gas.
☄️ METEOR SHOWER & EQUINOX NOTES
September 9 (September Ξ΅-Perseids Peak): A minor shower producing around 5 meteors per hour. With the Moon nearly new, dark skies offer a chance to spot a few quick streaks radiating from Perseus before dawn.
September 22 (Autumnal Equinox): Day and night are nearly equal across the globe, officially kicking off astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere!
Late September (Zodiacal Light): During moonless mornings before dawn, look toward the eastern horizon for the "False Dawn"—a faint, ghostly pyramid of sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust.
Clear skies, everyone!
