ALERT NEWSLETTER – October 2025

Hi everyone and welcome to the October ALERT Newsletter!

Fall has arrived and with it we can look forward to the changing of the fall leaves, the occasional nip in the air, and the Hobgoblins that will visit us at the end of the month.

October is a fun time of the year, usually being not too hot and not too cold – the “Goldilocks” of seasons.

It is a time to enjoy Fall football, the baseball playoffs which my Cubs are in, and the last outdoor adventures of the year, as the pretty weather October lets you get tanned, rested and ready for the storms of the Fall.

If you are into DXing on the HF bands, the good news is that they are awakening from their Summer slumber, as my recent voice and CW contacts with Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, the Canary Islands, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, Russia, Sardinia, Serbia, Sint Maarten & Slovenia would demonstrate.

This reawakening of the HF bands coincides with the fall ham migration. You see, hams are like birds. We migrate in the fall. Birds migrate towards the equator, hams driven in by the cold, rain and lack of competing outdoor activities migrate towards the knobs.

So, dust off that radio, check and see if you still have an antenna in the air, and let the world know you are still on the sunny side of the daisies.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Birmingham NWS Fall 2025 Spotter Courses

The Birmingham NWS will be offering online Basic and Advanced Spotter Courses this fall. These classes are FREE and allow individuals to complete these courses in the comfort of their home or office.

By participating in these courses, which run about 2 hours, an individual or a group of individuals will become SKYWARN Storm Spotters.

Unless you want or need a refresher, you do not need to participate in more than one Basic SKYWARN Course, as the material covered is the same; however, it is required that you participate in at least one Basic SKYWARN Course before taking the Advanced SKYWARN Course. These courses are two way, meaning you will be able to interact with the meteorologist leading the training. You will be muted while training is in progress, but you may use the built in chat feature to ask questions.

To attend the Online Spotter Classes:

1. Via the schedule below, register by clicking the link
   corresponding to the class you’d like to attend.
2. Select the ‘join webinar’ button on the registration page or
   in your confirmation email and follow the prompts.
3. Enjoy the class and ask questions.

To avoid being hurried, give yourself at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the class to complete the above process and to get your note taking materials ready.

The current schedule is as follows:

Basic Class Thursday, October 2 – 6:30 – 7:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7773998457518567512

Basic Class Tuesday, October 7 – 6:30 – 7:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5549842565178907995

Basic Class Thursday, October 9 – 1:00 – 2:00 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6269801679535021146

Basic Class Thursday, October 16 – 6:30 – 7:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6825914869654835288

Advanced Class Tuesday, October 21 – 7:00 – 8:00 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/303442568896945244

These classes will help you provide the NWS the vital “ground truth” information they need to verify radar indications, target their attention and help you relay reports in a clear manner to the NWS, either directly via 205-664-3010 and pressing 2, online at https://www.weather.gov/bmx/submitstormreport
or via chat or amateur radio. This knowledge helps Skywarn Net Control stations filter reports, by giving them knowledge of what reporting stations are trying to describe. This way they can tell if the report is a valid report, an invalid report by an overly excited operator or a valid, but poorly described report, which without this knowledge could be mistakenly dismissed.

For further information on these classes visit: http://www.weather.gov/bmx/skywarn

A PDF of the September 20, 2018 Basic presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/BasicSpotterGSAT.pdf

A PDF of the April 4, 2019 Advanced presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/Gerald_Satterwhite_Advanced_WEBPAGE.pdf

The NWS in Norman, OK have numerous YouTube videos worth exploring at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NWSNorman/playlists

Other useful resources:

ABC33/40 Basic Storm Spotter Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MzKUTfUKA

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 1 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOE69nsaKWE

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 2 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hT7gCCQB0

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 3 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKHsAxNzqEM

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research – UCARS – offers numerous courses on various aspects of meteorology. visit: Public Dashboard | MetEd

Registration is required, but all courses are free.

Note these videos and UCARs online courses ARE NOT intended to replace the courses offered by the NWS office. The local meteorologists will know factors and variations in the area microclimate that may need to be considered when assessing the observed phenomena. Consider these online courses as supplemental information.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How Dark Is Your Sky?

I have been an Amateur Radio Operator for nearly 48 years. My interest in the hobby grew from an interest in Meteorology, which was inspired by listening to hams taking severe storm reports on VHF ham nets. My interest in Meteorology in turn is an offshoot of an interest in Astronomy, as I learned by watching the skies I could decipher the clouds meanings. My interest in Astronomy dates to the night a six year old version of me watched with wonder the total Lunar Eclipse of December 19, 1964.

I have lived in or near a city all my life and to me the milky looking night sky I see is “normal”. I am used to a sky illuminated by a few hundred thousand streetlights, lights from stores, cars and other sources. The darkest skies I have ever seen in Birmingham was in February 1976, when a power blackout darkened the western suburbs of Birmingham, which coincided with the passage Comet West. With an unhindered sky, not only did I have a beautiful view of the comet, but saw the Milky Way for the first time and a bewildering number of stars.

Being an amateur astronomer in a city is a challenging prospect, as the sky is never truly dark. As a teenager, for a few days I thought I might have found a cure for the problem. Since all the streetlights then were mercury vapor lights, I saved up and bought a filter specifically designed to filter out the wavelengths of mercury vapor lights. Life was good for about a week, then Alabama Power came and replaced all the mercury vapor lights with sodium vapor lights, which cannot be filtered and then for pure meanness they installed so many new lights in the neighborhood that the Barons could have easily played night games there.

The neighbors thought it was great since it would “keep the burglars away”, which proved to be wrong, as since the burglars didn’t need flashlights now, the beams of which would normally have aroused suspicion, they just happily cranked up operations.

The best I could do is find the darkest shadows and try my best to observe, while being keenly aware of the activity around me, which by habit I always did anyway, and still do today.

Before I continue I will quickly say that this article is not going to be a sermon about the evils of light pollution, but is leading to a guide to help you find the darkest skies in Alabama for stargazing.

That said, we live in an increasingly light polluted world. Light pollution is caused by inefficient or unnecessary use of artificial light, especially lights which shine into the night sky rather than using a shield or reflector to concentrate the light towards the intended direction.

It has been estimated that 83% of the world’s people live under light polluted skies and that 23% of the world’s land area is affected by “skyglow”, which is the diffuse glow of the night sky caused by the combined lights of human civilization.

To help measure light pollution levels and help skywatchers evaluate and compare the darkness of possible night sky observing sites, Amateur Astronomer John E Bortle created the “Bortle Dark-Sky Scale” . The Bortle Scale is a nine level numeric scale that measures the night sky’s brightness at a particular location, based on celestial objects that can be observed and the lights effects on the night sky and the surrounding area.

There are dark skies to be found in Alabama. Naturally the further away from a city you go, the better the sky becomes, to varying degrees. Some recommend driving two hours or more from a city. The only problem is, in the Southeastern US if you drive two hours away from a city, what usually happens? You find yourself in another city.

So, where are the darkest skies in Alabama?

Using the Bortle Scale as our guide, let’s go for a trip!

The brightest lit city in Alabama is Birmingham, so it will be our epicenter.

Class 9 – Inner City Skies – In downtown Birmingham, from a point centered roughly at 4Th Ave South & 20th Street South radiating outward one mile in every direction in a circle reaching 5 Points South, to an area a few blocks just west of I-65 downtown, then northward to the BJCC and then eastward to Avondale.

Here the entire sky is brightly lit and discolored, with light pollution reaching to the zenith. Stars are weak and washed out and only the brightest constellations are visible, and they are missing stars. Dimmer constellations such as Cancer and Pisces are not seen at all. The Pleiades star cluster is visible if you know where to look for it, but stars fainter than magnitude 4 are invisible. Most people don’t even look up, except perhaps to notice the Moon.

Class 8 – City Sky – In the Birmingham Metro area, from the edges of the Class 9 area one mile to the southeast and to the northwest, and two miles to the southwest and the northeast, this shape is due to Birmingham being an elongated city on a southwest/northeast axis. This area includes Homewood, West End, Ensley, North Birmingham, Shuttlesworth Airport and Woodlawn. Incidentally, downtown Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa are also Class 8 locations.

Here the sky glows whitish gray or orangish, with bright light pollution reaching to 35° above the horizon. You can read newspaper headlines without difficulty. Some of the stars making up the familiar constellation patterns are difficult to see or are absent entirely. The naked eye can pick out stars down to magnitude 4.5 at best, if you know just where to look.

Class 7 – Suburban / Urban Transition – From the edges of the Class 8 area stretching to Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Bessemer, Fairfield, Fultondale, near Center Point, Irondale and Mountain Brook.

Here the entire sky has a grayish white glow, and clouds are brightly lit, with strong light sources seen in every direction. The Milky Way is invisible and using a telescope only the brightest nebula and star clusters are seen, and they are unimpressive. M31, the Andromeda Galaxy is just barely visible to the naked eye using averted vision, but is visible as an elongated rice shaped smudge in small telescopes. The naked eye limit is magnitude 5.

Class 6 – Bright Suburban Sky – From the edge of the Class 7 areas stretching to the northern slope of Oak Mountain, down the I-65 corridor to Calera, I-59 to McCalla, Hueytown, Pleasant Grove, Minor, Forestdale, Gardendale, Center Point, Trussville, the I-20 corridor to Leeds and then to Lake Purdy.

Here skies are dominated by light pollution making the sky within 35° of the horizon glow grayish white. Clouds appear fairly bright, with even cirrus clouds brighter than the sky background.
Zodiacal light, which is the glow from sunlight reflected by objects along the Earth’s orbital plane is invisible, but faint indications of the Milky Way may be seen towards the Zenith. Viewing the area with binoculars can be impressive. Galaxy M31 is modestly apparent to the unaided eye, but the Triangulum Galaxy, M33 is invisible. Your surroundings are easily visible. The naked-eye limit is about magnitude 5.5.

Class 5 – Suburban Sky – From the edges of the Class 6 area stretching down I-65 to the Shelby/Chilton County line, down the I-59 corridor to just east of Tuscaloosa, Tannehill State Park, Sylvan Springs, Graysville, Warrior, the Jefferson/ Blount County line, Springville, along the I-20 corridor into St. Clair County and beyond and the southern slope of Oak Mountain.

Light pollution is significant, and light sources are evident in most, if not all directions. Clouds are noticeably brighter than the sky. Hints of the zodiacal light are seen on the best spring and autumn nights. The Milky Way is very weak or invisible near the horizon and looks rather washed out overhead and delicate detail is lost. Though to a city dweller, who has never seen it before, it is magnificent. Galaxy M31 is easily visible, as is the Great Nebula in Orion, but Galaxy M33 is invisible.
The naked-eye limit is about magnitude 6.

Class 4 – Rural / Suburban Transition – Western Jefferson County along the Warrior River, Walker County, except near Jasper, Rickwood Caverns State Park, Smokerise and most of Blount County.

Class 4 skies are a mix of rural and suburban characteristics. Domes of light are apparent over population centers in several directions extending to 55º above the horizon. Clouds in the direction of light-pollution sources are slightly illuminated but have only a grayish look overhead, and surroundings are clearly visible, with your car clearly visible in the distance. The zodiacal light is seen on the best nights and the Milky Way is brilliant overhead, showing the dark dust lane structure of the Great Rift and extends in a washed out form near the horizon. Galaxy M31 is easily visible, and Galaxy M33 is now a barely detectable using averted vision and then only when it is 55º above the horizon. The maximum naked-eye magnitude is 6.1 to 6.5.

Intermediate between Class 4 & 3 would include Cheaha State Park, Briarfield Ironworks State Park, the Bankhead National Forest & the Sipsey Wilderness in Winston County and the Talladega National Forest – Oakmulgee District, in Bibb County. Here the skies are so clear and the stars so bright that I find it can be disorienting, as there are too many stars and they blur out the familiar stars that outline the constellations. Cool, but slightly creepy.

Class 3 – Rural Sky – Western Clarke County and a sizable area including Western Montgomery County, Dallas, Wilcox and Monroe County.

There is indication of light pollution along the horizon. Clouds may appear faintly illuminated in the brightest parts of the sky near the horizon but are dark overhead. You lose visibility and your surroundings are only vaguely visible at 20 to 30 feet. The zodiacal light is striking in spring and autumn, when it extends 60° above the horizon after dusk and before dawn, and it begins to show hints of color. The sky is crowded with stars, appearing large and close, extending to the horizon in all directions. The Milky Way still appears complex, showing structures, but is losing its contrast due to the multitude of stars. The galactic bulge is visible and the galaxy appears three dimensional. Globular star clusters such as M4, M5, M15, and M22 are all distinct naked-eye objects, as is Galaxy M31. Galaxy M33 is easy to see with averted vision. The naked-eye magnitude is 6.6 to 7.0.

Class 2 – Typical Truly Dark Skies – The Conecuh National Forest, and a rough north – south corridor covering central Dallas, Wilcox and Monroe County, curving west and southwestward over Wilcox County. Roland Cooper State Park in Wilcox County is within this area. Highway AL10 from Greenville to Pineapple and County Road 106 from Georgiana to the intersection of County Roads 47 & 83 cut though this area. The small unincorporated communities of Carlowville on County Road 89 in Dallas County, Snow Hill & Furman on County Road 21 in Wilcox County, sit nestled near the center of this corridor. This isn’t in the Middle Of Nowhere, but you can see it from there.

There are no light domes on the horizon, Airglow, a glow in the night sky caused by radiation from the upper atmosphere, may be weakly apparent along the horizon. Clouds and surroundings are barely visible. Any clouds in the sky are visible only as dark holes or voids in the starry background and your surroundings are seen only vaguely, except where they project against the sky. The zodiacal light can be annoyingly bright, able to cast weak shadows just before dawn and after dusk, and its color can be seen as distinctly yellowish when compared with the blue-white of the Milky Way. The Gegenschein, a faint light about 20° across in the night sky opposite the sun, probably caused by backscatter of sunlight by dust in the solar system, is visible. The summer Milky Way is highly structured to the unaided eye, and its brightest parts look like veined marble when viewed with ordinary binoculars. The rising Milky Way is so bright that it has confused some into thinking it’s dawn, and like Zodiacal light, it can cast faint shadows on white objects. The Milky Way has faint lateral extensions making it’s bulge 50° thick. Galaxy M33 is easily seen. The maximum naked-eye magnitude is as faint as 7.1 to 7.5.

Class 2 sites are almost as good as Class 1 sites, with only a slight increase in skyglow.

Intermediate between Class 2 & 1, the closest area to Alabama is the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, on an east-west line from Sumatra to Sopchoppy or between Apalachicola and Tallahassee.

Class 1 – Excellent, Truly Dark Skies – The western deserts and 300 miles and beyond south of Gulf Shores.

Class 1 skies are theoretically darkest terrestrial skies, limited only by airglow, starlight and the bright glare from Jupiter and Venus, which spoil can spoil your night vision. Airglow is readily apparent, as is the colorful zodiacal light and it’s extension the zodiacal band, which spans the entire sky. If you are observing on a grass covered field bordered by trees, your surroundings are almost totally invisible, close objects being only indistinct silhouettes. The Milky Way’s core in Scorpius and Sagittarius casts obvious diffuse shadows on the ground. Both Galaxies M31, M33 and numerous star clusters and nebulae are easily visible to the unaided eye. The maximum naked-eye magnitude is as faint as 7.6 or fainter.

The only more pristine skies to be found are those seen from the International Space Station and the Tiangong Space Station, which are above the Airglow and the pollution and turbulence of the atmosphere.

To see your locations condition, see:

Map – Dark Site Finder
Alabama Dark Sky Parks & Places | Stargazing & Astrotourism
Stellarium Web Online Star Map

The best times for observing the central regions of the Milky Way are moonless nights, either before moonrise, after moonset or during a New Moon, between March and October, with July, August and September being the prime time as the Milky Way will be vertical as opposed to crooked in the sky.

During the winter months, though the stars of the constellations are brighter, the parts of the Mily Way you will see are looking towards the outer arms of the galaxy, since the Earth will be facing away from the center. It’s still worth looking at though.

When you go stargazing, let your eyes adjust to the dark for several minutes, 30 minutes is best. If you use a light, use a red filter as it won’t spoil your “night vision”. There are few things in life that are more annoying than having your eyes dark adapted and having some dolt shine a flashlight in your eyes or having a cars headlights blinding you. Then you must start the adaptation process all over again.

The term “averted vision” was used starting with Class 7 skies. If you look slightly above or to the sides a diffuse object, such as a galaxy or nebula instead of looking directly using the center of your vision, it will appear brighter. This is called the “averted vision”.

This technique helps overcome a quirk in the human eye. The center of our eyes has virtually no rods, the cells that detect dim light in black and white. This situation results in a decrease in visual sensitivity in central vision at night.

The density of the rod cells usually reaches a maximum around 20 degrees off the center of vision, so as you look away, dim objects will suddenly brighten or pop into view.

So, since we know where to go and what to do, lets grab the Sasquatch and mosquito repellent and go stargazing!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Mark’s Almanac

The tenth Month, October is so named because it is the eighth month on the Roman calendar. To the Slavs of Eastern Europe it is called “yellow month,” from the fading of the leaves, while to the Anglo-Saxons it was known as Winterfylleth, because at this full moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin.

By whichever name you call it, October is a mild and dry month, the driest of the year, in fact. And it is a sunny month with the amount of possible sunshine reaching the ground in the 60% or greater range.

Weather shifts from autumn pattern to revisiting the summer pattern and back again. The Azores-Bermuda High shifts eastward into the Atlantic, but leaves weakened high pressure centers over the Virginias, which still try to block out approaching fronts.

October is usually a quite month for tornadoes, with a 40% decrease in activity. Nationwide an average of 28 tornadoes occur in October, and those tornadoes are usually weak.

Our hurricane threat continues, with hurricane activity increasing during the first half of the month, concentrating in the Caribbean, both from formation in the Caribbean and from the long track Cape Verde hurricanes, which enter the Caribbean. And, we still have the little “gifts” that the Gulf of Mexico occasionally will provide.

Florida, due to its low latitude, and the way it projects into the ocean separating the Atlantic and The Gulf makes it especially vulnerable to hurricanes. From 1851 – 2024, Florida there have been 35 October hurricane landfalls, nearly triple the next highest state – Louisiana, which has had 12. About 60 percent of all U.S. hurricanes that made landfall after September 26 have done so in Florida. One factor being the cold fronts of Fall penetrating the Gulf and then deflecting storms towards the west coast of Florida.

Luckily after the second half of the month activity will begin a steady decrease.

28% of the year’s hurricanes occur in October.

From 1851 – 2024 there have been 367 Tropical Storms and 222 hurricanes, 60 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable October hurricanes are:

The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Huracán San Calixto, the Great Hurricane of the Antilles, and the 1780 Disaster, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane, which killed between 20,000 to 22, 000 people in the Lesser Antilles as it passed through from October 10 – 16, 1780. It is possible that it had winds in excess of 200 MPH when it reached Barbados.

Hurricane Hazel struck the Carolinas in 1954. Weather satellites did not yet exist, and the Hurricane Hunters were unable to observe the core of the storm until it neared land on October 15. Hazel made landfall just west of the North Carolina/South Carolina border slightly northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with a Category 4 intensity of 130 mph.

Hurricane Wilma still holds the record as the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. In 24 hours, Wilma went from a Category 1 storm on October 18 to a Category 5 storm with 185 MPH Maximum Sustained Winds and a Minimum Pressure of 882 millibars or 26.05 inches. She weakened to Category 4 and struck the Yucatan, then restrengthened and struck Cape Romano Florida as a Category 3 storm on October 24, 2005.

Hurricane Mitch became a Category 1 hurricane on October 24, 1998, and within 48 hours grew to Category 5 intensity, and though he weakened to Category 1 before making landfall, he became the second deadliest hurricane on record killing over 11,000, with nearly that number missing in Central America due to intense rainfall and mudslides. He would eventually reach the United States making landfall near Naples Florida on November 5.

Hurricane Michael formed near the Yucatan Peninsula on October 7, 2018, and in 72 hours grew from a Tropical Depression to a Category 5 hurricane striking Mexico Beach Florida.

Hurricane Milton became a Category 1 Hurricane on October 6, 2024, and explosively strengthened to a 180 MPH Category 5 the next day. He weakened to a 115 MPH Category 3 storm as he struck Fiesta Key, near Sarasota Florida on October 10.

Beware of October hurricanes, for as Wilma, Mitch, Michael and Milton have demonstrated, they can experience explosive growth.

October Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

This is the month for Alabama’s version of “Indian Summer’s” arrival.

Technically speaking Indian Summer doesn’t occur until “Squaw Winter” or the first frost arrives, but exact date when Indian Summer arrives varies with latitude.

We live in Alabama, and while the earliest frosts have been known to occur by October 17, they usually wait until November. So, we, in our milder climate call the first warm up after the first cool down “Indian Summer”.

The Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies are very noticeable as they continue to drift South-Southeast on their migration towards Florida. They prefer red things & if you have red flowers, they will zero in on them.

The Monarchs also will be seen gliding by in their migration towards Central America.

Fall colors will become prominent and by late October though early November the leaves will be reaching their peak fall colors.

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 53.2 degrees at the beginning of the month to 42.3 degrees at the months end. Daylight decreases 58 minutes from 11 hours 52 minutes on October 1 to 10 hours 53 minutes on October 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

October 1 Sunrise 6:40 AM Sunset 6:32 PM
October 15 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 6:14 PM
October 31 Sunrise 7:04 AM Sunset 5:57 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Virgo, The Virgin.

Mercury, magnitude -0.2 in Libra, The Scales, is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Virgo, The Virgin, is a predawn object moving ever closer to the Sun.

At the first of the month, she will rise at 4:44 AM CDT – 1 hour and 55 minutes before the Sun and reach an altitude of 19° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks around 6:23 AM CDT.

Venus will reach her closest distance to the Sun, or Perihelion, on October 5.

At midmonth she will rise at 5:11 AM CDT – 1 hour and 38 minutes before the Sun and reach an altitude of 16° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:34 AM CDT.

At month’s end she will rise at 5:42 AM CDT – 1 hour and 20 minutes before the Sun and reach an altitude of 12° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:47 AM CDT.

Earth, magnitude -4.0 as viewed from the Sun, and her Moon, is in the Cetus, The Sea Serpent.

Mars, magnitude +1.5, with his Moons Phobos and Deimos in Libra, The Scales, is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +7.7, is in Cetus, The Sea Monster.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.1, and his 97 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, in Gemini, The Twins,
is a morning object.

At the first of the month, he rises at 12:36 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 69° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:23 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 11:48 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 77° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:34 AM CDT.

At months end he comes visible around 11:35 PM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 7° above the eastern horizon. He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 5:53 AM CDT, 77° above the southern horizon. He will be lost in the dawn twilight around 6:47 AM CDT, 72° above the south-western horizon.

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, and his 274 moons and extensive debris ring system, in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, is an evening object.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible around 7:01 PM CDT, 11° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 11:56 PM CDT, 53° above the southern horizon. It will continue to be observable until around 4:53 AM CDT, when he sinks below 11° above the western horizon.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 6:44 AM CDT, 19° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 10:58 PM, 52° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 3:53 AM CDT, when he sinks below 11° above the western horizon.

At month’s end he becomes visible around 6:38 PM CDT at an altitude of 28° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 9:51 PM CDT, 52° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 2:45 AM CDT, when he sinks below 11° above the western horizon.

Uranus, magnitude +5.6, and his 29 moons and ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is a morning object.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible around 8:52 PM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 4:00 AM CDT, 76° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:40 AM CDT, 64° above the south-western horizon.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 9:55 PM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. he will reach his highest point in the sky at 3:04 AM, 76° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:50 AM, 50° above the western horizon.

At months end he becomes visible around 8:50 PM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 1:59 AM CDT, 76° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 6:02 AM CDT, 34° above the western horizon.

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, and his 16 moons and ring, is in Pisces, The Fish, is visible using a telescope in the evening sky.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible at 7:59 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 55° above the southern horizon at 12:09 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 4:18 AM CDT, 31° above the western horizon.

By midmonth he becomes visible at 7:11 PM CDT, 24° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 11:08 PM CDT, 55° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 3:18 AM CDT, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

At months end he becomes visible, at 6:55 PM CDT at an altitude of 33° above the south-eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 55° above the southern horizon at 10:04 PM CDT and will continue to be observable until around 2:13 AM CDT, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

Pluto, the largest Dwarf Planet, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.5 in Capricornus, The Sea Goat.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, her ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.3 in Bootes, The Herdsman.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.1 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris, the second largest Dwarf Planet, and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.6 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

At least seven additional bodies with the preliminary criteria for identifying dwarf planets, and though not “officially” declared as such, are generally called dwarf planets by astronomers as well.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 near Pegasus, The Winged Horse.

50000 Quaoar, his two rings and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Orion, The Hunter.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.8 in Taurus, The Bull.

225088 Gonggong, the third largest Dwarf Planet, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Pegasus, The Winged Horse.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Hydra, The Sea Serpent. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into
a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

“Dwarf Planet Candidate” 2017 OF201, magnitude 23.2 is in the constellation Triangulum, the Triangle.

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, an asteroid unofficially called Asteroid 2018 AG37, and nicknamed FarFarOut, glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx.

FarFarOut is currently 12,361,431,335 miles or in Light Time, 18 hours, 25 minutes and 58 seconds from Earth.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 48 years, 14 month and 7 days is 15,656,667,801 miles, or in Light Time, 23 hours, 20 minutes 48 Seconds from Earth as of 3:01 PM CDT, September 19, 2025, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

Near Earth Object, asteroid 99942 Apophis, is expected to pass within 19,794 miles of the Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.

Apophis, magnitude +21.2, in Virgo, The Virgin, is 185724785 miles or 1303 days from the Earth as of 3:11 PM CDT, September 19, 2025.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, which will pass though the Earth – Moon system on Wednesday, December 22, 2032, dimly glows at magnitude +29.7, in Virgo, The Virgin. It currently is 378,128,373 miles or 2756 days from the Earth as of 3:17 PM CDT, September 19, 2025.

There are 1,463,453 known asteroids and 4,034 comets as of September 19, 2025, per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website

6,007 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of September 17, 2025 per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive.

October’s Full Moon will occur October 6. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 10:49 PM CDT or 03:49 UTC October 7. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling, and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon.

This is the first of three Supermoons for 2025. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

During a Full Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

The Draconid Meteor Shower will peak on October 7. This minor shower, which produces only 10 meteors per hour, is produced by dust grains left behind by Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was discovered in 1900. This shower, which runs from October 6 – 10, is unusual in that it is best observed in the early evening, instead of the early morning hours as with most other showers.

Unfortunately, the glare from the nearly full moon will block most of the meteors this year. Best viewing will be in the early evening from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or her closest approach to Earth on October 8, when she will be 223,581 miles from Earth.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur on October 13 at 1:14 PM CDT or 06:14 UTC.

During a Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

New Moon will occur at 7:25 AM CDT or 12:25 UTC on October 21. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

This New Moon occurs near Apogee, or the Moon’s farthest point from the Earth, so this will be a Micromoon. A Micromoon is the opposite of a Supermoon. Where a Supermoon appears slightly larger than normal, a Micromoon, if it were visible, would appear smaller.

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks on October 21 & 22. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak This shower, which runs from October 2 to November 7, is produced by the broad debris trail of Halley’s Comet.

This is an great year for the Orionids, as the moon will be absent all night long, leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on October 23, when she will be 252,553 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur October 29 at 11:22 AM CDT or 16:22 UTC.

During the Quarter Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

Astronomers are watching a comet, Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), which was discovered in January. The comet is currently in the dawn sky in Lynx, at magnitude 8.

During August it brightened quickly from magnitude 16.5 to 11 (the lower the number, the brighter).
Japanese comet expert Seiichi Yoshida estimates that if Comet Lemmon continues this trend, it might reach magnitude 5 or 4, which means it could become visible to the naked eye from dark sites. Or it could only be a temporary outburst, and some say it will only reach magnitude 7.5. This means it would be a good object for small telescopes in dark skies, but would not reach naked eye visibility.

On October 11 the comet will be located below the ladle of the Big Dipper in the northeastern sky after sunset. As the nights progress it will drift westward and by the 21st, it will be the closest to the Earth and will be behind the Big Dipper, looking Northwest towards the bright star Arcturus and then head towards the setting Sun. Will it be spectacular or just a fuzzy blob in binoculars? Only time will tell.

But that’s not all folks, there is a second comet!

On September 10, 2025, Vladimir Bezugly of Dnipro, Ukraine was examining low resolution online images from the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on the Solar and Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft and discovered a moving object, resembling a bright blob, close to the Sun. That blob has turned out to be comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN).

Brightness forecasts issued by Seiichi Yoshida and Dutch comet expert Gideon Van Buitenen indicate that the comet will peak somewhere between magnitude +6 and +7, probably placing it just out of naked-eye visibility under dark, moonless skies. But, good binoculars should bring it into view.

Daniel W.E. Green at the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams suggests that comet SWAN will hover near magnitude of +6, from Oct. 2 to 20, and perhaps becoming a few tenths of a magnitude brighter for a few days around Oct. 12, meaning it might become faintly visible with the unaided eye.
Comet SWAN will slowly climb in the southwest sky during the first ten days of October, reaching an altitude of 12 degrees above the horizon at the end of evening twilight, about 90 minutes after sunset.

By October 28, the comet will have climbed to 30 degrees above the south-southwest horizon by nightfall and by Oct. 25 it will stand halfway up in the southern sky when twilight ends, and not set until after midnight.

During October, Comet SWAN will move along a path taking it across the constellations of Libra, Scorpius, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Scutum, Sagittarius, Aquila and Aquarius.

Give these comets a try!

As you look at the October night skies, take a peek at the rich star clouds of the Milky Way in Cygnus as she crosses the zenith. These will appear as a ghostly band overhead in the hour after nightfall is complete. The Milky Way now rises straight up from the southwest horizon, passes overhead, and runs straight down to the northeast.

Later at midnight, Orion the Hunter and the stars of winter rise over the eastern horizon, reminding us to enjoy the mild weather while it is here, for this season, as all seasons, is but a fleeting moment in the never-ending waltz of time.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This month’s meeting will be on October 14 at 7 PM at the NWS Forecast Office in Calera.

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter