We humans love shapes in the night sky. We see images of whatever reflects our environment, from animals and birds to hunters and even telescopes (Telescopium is a constellation visible from the Southern Hemisphere).
So how about a fleeting triangle? We have the Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb and Altair) and the Winter Triangle (Betelgeuse, Procyon and Sirius), but here’s one that will exist momentarily in the night-time and pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Oct. 14.
Expect a striking view of the moon, a bright planet and a famous star as the last-quarter moon rises alongside Jupiter and Pollux, one of the “twin” stars in Gemini, forming a vast celestial triangle that will dominate the eastern sky.
This event unfolds in the hours after midnight and before sunrise. A last-quarter moon will rise in the east after midnight, appearing half-lit, while Jupiter will shine brightly nearby. Pollux, the brighter of the Gemini twins, will sit above the moon, completing the triangle. By dawn, the three objects will be high in the southern sky, easy to spot from most locations in the Northern Hemisphere. The earlier you head outside — ideally between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. local time in the Northern Hemisphere — the clearer and darker the sky will be.
Jupiter will be unmistakable, glowing as a steady, brilliant point of light brighter than any star in the sky. To its upper left, Pollux will appear as a yellowish star. The moon, half-illuminated on its right-hand side from the Northern Hemisphere (Southern Hemisphere observers see it the other way up), completes the scene. Together, the three will form a large triangle stretching across Gemini and into the eastern sky.
The naked eye is all that’s required for this temporary triangle. That said, a pair of binoculars or a small telescope will give you a closer look at Jupiter’s four largest moons — Ganymede, Europa, Callisto and Io — a few of which will appear as tiny points of light on either side of the planet.
October’s night skies are about to get serious for stargazers. The headline acts must be comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) and comet SWAN R2 (Comet C/2025 R2), once-in-a-lifetime visitors that could soon be visible in the post-sunset night sky — possibly with the naked eye and certainly through binoculars. Remarkably, they will both likely become brightest at the same time as a new moon (ensuring dark skies) and the peak of the Orionid meteor shower on Oct. 21-22. A few weeks later, the full beaver moon will rise on Nov. 5 as the biggest supermoon since 2019.
The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like Stellarium.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.