What’s Up This Month?
During the first half of the monthly General Meeting, the club’s board talks with the membership about what’s going on up in the sky for the upcoming month. This is an informal session, with discussion encouraged among attendees. A short break follows, before the main presentation.
Topics this coming month (October ’25) include:
To permit the full meeting time for this month’s feature presentation, we will not be holding a separate What’s Up segment during the meeting.
Going on this month, consider trying to view Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), a newly discovered repeating comet with a period of some 22,000 years. It’s currently low on the horizon near Mars, with an approximate 7th magnitude brightness. That means it’s best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, but if you have a really good view to the western horizon, you might give it a try. Binoculars required. Closest approach to Earth should be in mid-October. How much it will brighten by then is hard to predict.
You might have also heard of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. This dim comet was discovered last July 2025 as it entered the inner Solar System. Its trajectory and speed make it clear that it originated outside of our little corner of the galaxy, never to reappear again. Currently the comet is approaching the Sun, and will pass behind it in late October. Closest approach to Earth will be in mid-December, but likely still not bright enough for direct viewing.
Continuing on the theme of comets, there are two meteor showers during October. The first, the Draconids, are going to be a bust – they’re not especially active to start with, and the full Moon will be up to wash away any chance of seeing anything. But the Orionids peak around 10/21 should be good. Look up around Midnight and see the debris field from Haley’s Comet hit our atmosphere.
Saturn is at opposition in October, so will be up all night. No rings, however, since they’re oriented edge-on from our perspective here on Earth right now. They should reappear early next year.