Although there are a few things to see in the evening sky this week, to be honest all the action is taking place in the east before dawn. But it's worth getting up early, or staying up late, because there are some truly beautiful sights on offer around 4am.

If you're not a night owl, look to the south west after sunset on Sunday (October 8) and you might just see a very thin crescent Moon shining above Venus. The pair might be too faint for your eyes to pick up, but binoculars will show them well. Just above the treetops at 7pm, the Moon will look like a fingernail clipping just above star-like Venus. Be sure to wait until after sunset to look though. Don't ever use binoculars on the sky if the (literally) blindingly-bright Sun is above the horizon.

Nine hours later the eastern sky is strewn with lovely celestial sights. Halfway up in the sky at 4am, Jupiter blazes like a blue white lantern, and below and to its left Mars is a fainter but much redder star. To Jupiter's lower right the stars of Orion look like jewels, with orange Betelgeuse and blue Rigel particularly striking. Between them the three stars of the famous Orion's Belt, look like a trip of sapphires.

Definitely worth setting the alarm clock for!

Stuart Atkinson

Eddington Astronomical Society