Monsters, Meteors, and Moonlight
- Anna Paolucci
- Oct 1
- 5 min read
Welcome back to Slooh’s monthly newsletter & happy October! Cozy on up with a warm drink, a soft blanket, and settle in to start a mission on Slooh as we welcome in the fall. (September 22nd marked the official start of fall as we celebrated the autumnal equinox, so pull out those pumpkins!)
For the sky, that means a shift toward the winter constellations being more easily observable and saying hello to longer nights and more time to connect to the stars.
For Slooh, the fall means back-to-school season, our lunar poster competition, and the launch of the Gravity Awards.
Keep reading for more updates, special star parties, seasonal skywatching guides, and stories from educators who are bringing the universe down to Earth for their students.
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Your October Skywatching Guide
October 4 — The Small Magellanic Cloud is Well Placed
Across much of the world, the Milky Way's dwarf companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC; mag 2.7) in Tucana, will be well placed in the evening sky in the coming weeks.
On October 4, it will reach its highest point in the sky around midnight local time. On subsequent evenings, it will culminate about four minutes earlier each night.
October 6 — Full Moon (Supermoon)
The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 03:49 UTC.
This year, the October Full Moon is the Harvest Moon. The name "Harvest Moon" originates from northern Europe. The Harvest Moon refers to the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox (September 22), which helps farmers by providing extra light to harvest crops late into the night. The Full Moon rises when the Sun sets, so the Harvest Moon provides them with enough moonlight to harvest the fields throughout the night. This time was essential for stocking up on food to last through winter.
This is also the first of three supermoons in 2025. Since the Moon will be near its closest approach to Earth, it may appear slightly larger and brighter than usual.
October 21–22 — Orionid Meteor Shower Peak
The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by dust grains left behind by Comet Halley, which has been observed since ancient times.
The shower runs annually from October 2 to November 7, and this year it peaks on the night of October 21 and the morning of October 22.
This is an excellent year for the Orionids: the Moon will be absent all night, leaving dark skies for what should be a dazzling display.
Best viewing: After midnight from a dark location.
Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.
October 23 — Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation
The planet Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation of 23.9° from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury, since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky.
Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.
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Falling for the Moon Contest
In honor of this spooky season being filled with so much Lunar activity, from a Total Lunar Eclipse in early September to a Supermoon in early November, Slooh is hosting a “Falling for the Moon” poster contest! This is a great chance for students to explore lunar science in a hands-on way and creatively showcase what they’ve learned.
Students will complete Slooh’s Lunar Phases Quest (for their grade level), which guides them through real-time telescope observations and interactive learning about the Moon’s phases. Afterward, they’ll design and submit a poster that reflects their understanding and creativity. Please note that this Quest takes a full month to complete as you capture images of each phase. Learn more here.
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Fall Quest Guide
October skies are full of celestial treats, and Slooh has Quests ready to make the most of them! Here's a taste of what students can explore this month:
A Cosmic Twin Awaits: The Milky Way Doppelganger Quest takes students on a deep dive into space to discover a galaxy that mirrors our own. Along the way, they’ll learn the fundamentals of galaxies and uncover the truth that the Milky Way is far from alone in the Universe – and it even has a twin!
Forces That Rule the Cosmos: The brand-new Universal Gravitation Quest challenges students to explore the laws that govern celestial motion. With a strong math focus and a creative poster project, this Quest blends critical thinking with cosmic exploration.
Rediscovering Pluto: In the Clyde Tombaugh Quest, students follow in the footsteps of Pluto’s discoverer. Using Slooh’s animation tool, they’ll blink-compare captures of Pluto to make their own “discovery” of Pluto – just as Clyde Tombaugh did nearly a century ago.
Share Your Discoveries: Encourage students to share the images they capture with our telescopes! The Gravity Awards Quest teaches how to post Observations and engage with the Slooh community.
Building Physics Pathways: Slooh’s High School Physics Learning Progression for 2025–2026 is now complete! With 12 Quests – including seven new, deeper dives into physics – this progression gives students a clear pathway to mastering the science behind the stars.
Student Spotlight
This fall, students at Lycoming College are exploring the universe in ways that would have been impossible with the tools accessible on their campus—thanks to Slooh 1000’s advanced photometry features.
Back in August, Dr. Melissa Morris, Assistant Professor of Astronomy, met with Slooh to walk through the new tools. She was particularly excited about photometry and spectroscopy, and together they explored how advanced students could access special Slooh 1000 objects for hands-on research. Fast forward to today, and her students are diving into their photometry module, analyzing photometric data from a curated list of targets—the first 12 of which have now been added to the Slooh 1000.
“Slooh has been a really cool tool this semester to allow students to work with data that they have gathered themselves,” Dr. Morris shared. “It’s been especially useful since we don’t have access to our own observatory like a lot of larger universities do.”
Students are applying these advanced features in a variety of ways. Using Slooh alongside SIMBAD data, they’re performing aperture photometry to measure stellar brightness—first by hand in ds9, then using Python to experience real-world astronomical techniques.
“The added ability to do photometry on a few sources has been great. I think it’s been a great learning experience so far, and I’m excited to see their results!” Dr. Morris added.
Beyond the classroom, students are embracing Slooh’s missions and quests with enthusiasm. Some are tackling the Advanced FITS Quest, while others are challenging themselves to observe all Slooh 1000 targets. At Lycoming College, a lack of telescope access is no longer a limit thanks to Slooh's online telescopes and advanced features.
Featured Slooh 1000
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)
Comet Lemmon takes center stage in early October as a Featured Object, offering a fleeting but exciting opportunity for observation before it dips too low on the dawn horizon later in the month. A look back at member Observations from September reveals a clear uptick in the comet’s activity, with its tail growing longer and more dynamic by the week. To make the most of this evolving spectacle, we’ve now enabled Missions using the Canary Three Deep Sky Telescope, which boasts a wide field of view—perfect for capturing the comet’s expanding tail in all its glory
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