The October 2026 night sky: what to see this month
October's night-sky highlights — a dark New-Moon window on the 10th and 2 meteor showers, and how to plan around them.
Here's what's worth looking up for in October 2026 — the Moon's dark window, the meteor showers and eclipses to plan around, and the constellations and Milky Way on show.
These are the month's globally-true highlights. For the exact times the sky goes dark, the Moon rises and sets, and each target is best placed from your own spot, let Stella compute it for your location.
The Moon: your dark-sky window
The Moon is the biggest lever on what's visible. Your darkest skies fall around the New Moon on Oct 10 — plan Milky Way and deep-sky nights for the week around it. The Full Moon on Oct 26 floods the sky, so switch then to the Moon itself, the planets, and double stars.
- Last Quarter — Oct 3
- New Moon — Oct 10
- First Quarter — Oct 18
- Full Moon — Oct 26
Meteor showers
2 showers peak in October. Get to the darkest site you can, lie back to take in as much sky as possible, and give your eyes 20 minutes to adapt.
- Draconids — peaks around Oct 8 (up to ~10/hr). Slow meteors, best in the evening; occasional outbursts.
- Orionids — peaks around Oct 21 (up to ~20/hr). Swift meteors, also from Halley's Comet.
What else is up
The Great Square of Pegasus marks autumn; from a dark site the Andromeda Galaxy is a naked-eye smudge.
The Milky Way is in season — from a Bortle 4 or darker site, away from town glow, its band shows real structure to the naked eye (and is far more dramatic from the southern hemisphere).
Which planets are well placed, and exactly when each target rises and sets, depends on your date and location — Stella computes that for your sky so you're not trusting a one-size-fits-all chart.
Stop guessing what tonight holds — Stella reads your sky and tells you when to go.
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