October 19. 2026: Find bright Jupiter and Mars before sunrise, the gibbous Moon after sunset, and Saturn through a telescope. Learn how Saturn’s retrograde motion works.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:08 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 6:03 p.m. CDT. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
Today’s Highlights
- Morning Jupiter and Mars
- Evening Gibbous Moon
- Saturn All Night
Morning Jupiter and Mars
Bright Jupiter and Mars are in the southeastern sky before sunrise. Until Venus appears in the morning sky next month, Jupiter is the third brightest celestial body, outshining all the stars. An hour before sunrise, the Jovian Giant is over 45° above the east-southeast horizon. It slowly rambles eastward in front of Leo, 7.6° to Regulus’ upper right, the Lion’s brightest star.
Through a telescope, the four largest moons, known as the Galilean satellites, are visible in the equatorial plane. This morning, they are visible along an imaginary line from the lower left to the upper right of the planet, in the same plane as the cloud bands that are whipped parallel to the planet’s equator by its rapid rotation.
Mars, marching eastward in front of Cancer, is 10.6° to Jupiter’s upper right. It is still in the same binocular field with the Beehive star cluster, 4.4° to the upper right.
The Red Planet is slowly overtaking Jupiter as their conjunction occurs on November 16.
Evening Gibbous Moon
After sunset, the gibbous moon, 63% illuminated, is nearly 30° above the south-southeast horizon. It is in front of Capricornus, 12.7° to the right of Deneb Algedi, the tail. Watch the moon appear farther eastward each evening as it approaches Saturn and the Full Hunter’s Moon on October 25.
Find the star Fomalhaut, nearly 10° above the southeast horizon. Its appearance in the evening sky occurs each autumn. Intrinsically, the star is nearly 20 times brighter than the sun. At a distance of 25 light years, it is the 13th brightest star observed at the mid-northern latitudes.
Saturn All Night
Farther eastward, Saturn is over 15° above the east-southeast horizon. Opposition occurred on October 4, and the planet is higher in the sky during the night. It is in the southern sky before midnight, setting in the west during morning twilight.
Saturn retrogrades in front of Cetus. The illusion occurs as Earth passes an outer planet. The line of sight from Earth to the planet normally moves eastward against the starry background as they revolve around the sun. As Earth catches up and passes between the planet and the sun, the line shifts westward, and the planet appears to move westward, or retrograde. Saturn returns to prograde, or direct, motion again on December 10.
The Ringed Wonder is a pretty sight through a telescope. The rings are seen tilted about 10° along the line of sight, with the direct view toward the southern hemisphere.
Look for Jupiter and Mars before sunrise while Saturn and the moon are visible during the evening.
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