1 / 21Meteor Showers | Draconid meteor shower will be at a peak in India on October 8 and 9. Since the moon will be at a waning stage, it would be easier to spot the shower. The best time to witness the shower is early evening. (Image: Perseid meteor shower in 2015, Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
2 / 21Orionids meteor shower will peak from October 20 to 21. Orionids are active every year in October, and you should be able to see about 20 meteors every hour. Orionids are left behind by Halley's Comet. The shower will be visible to naked eyes in the spots away from the city lights. (Image: Perseid meteor shower, 2016, Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
3 / 21Moon | This month brings not just one but two full moons. At the beginning and the end of the month— the full moon of October 1 was the Harvest Moon. (Source: NASA)
4 / 21The Harvest Moon is the name for the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox, one of the two days per year when day and night are equal lengths. (Source: NASA)
5 / 21The Harvest Moon falls in September, but every few years, it shifts over to October. (Source: NASA)
6 / 21On October 31, we will witness a second full moon. When there are two full moons in a month, the second is often called a Blue Moon. There is another more traditional definition of a Blue Moon, but this is the most well-known. (Source: NASA)
7 / 21Note that this is the only two full moon month in 2020. (Source: NASA)
8 / 21Here are the phases of the moon for October. (Source: NASA)
9 / 21Mars | October is an excellent time for viewing Mars as the planet is visible all night right now and reaches its highest point in the sky around midnight. (Source: NASA)
10 / 21This period of excellent visibility coincides with the event known as opposition, which occurs about every two years. (Source: NASA)
11 / 21This is also around the time when Mars and Earth come closest together in their orbits, meaning the red planet is at its brightest in the sky, so don't miss it. (Source: NASA)
12 / 21Mars, in all its glory, would be visible in the east, right after the sunset. (Source: NASA)
13 / 21Andromeda Galaxy | Finally, this month, it's a great time to try and spot the galaxy of Andromeda. Andromeda is also known as M31; its a spiral galaxy similar in appearance to our own Milky Way but slightly larger. (Source: NASA)
14 / 21Both Andromeda and Milky Way contain hundreds of billions of stars, and we think trillions of planets. Now we can't see the overall shape of the milky way because we are inside it, so Andromeda gives us a sense of what our galaxy would look like if you could see it from afar. (Source: NASA)
15 / 21Andromeda is faint and best viewed with a telescope, but you can observe it with binoculars or even a cell phone with a good camera on it. (Source: NASA)
16 / 21Even from and under very dark skies, its just barely a naked eye object, so although it might be a little challenging, it's worth it to see an entire galaxy with our own eyes. (Source: NASA)
17 / 21To find the Andromeda galaxy, look to the northeast in the evening sky once it is truly dark. (Source: NASA)
18 / 21Find the sideways 'W' that represents the throne of Queen Cassiopeia. (Source: NASA)
19 / 21To Cassiopeia's right, the constellation Andromeda which includes this string of bright stars. (Source: NASA)
20 / 21Move up at the left hand at the second of these shining stars and as you can back over to the Cassiopeia, you will notice a faint fudgy patch of light, and that patch is the Andromeda galaxy. (Source: NASA)
21 / 21Located 2 million light-years away, if you manage it, congratulations, you have just gone intergalactic. (Source: NASA)
