Adler Skywatch: October 2025

Header Image: A bright full Moon with an orange hue appears surrounded by tree branches in the night sky. 

Both the full and the new Moons are highlights of the night sky this month! Here’s what you can see in the sky in October 2025.

Is October’s Full Moon A Super Moon?

This month’s full Moon falls on October 6, making it—by only a day or two—the closest full Moon to last month’s autumnal equinox. By definition, this makes it the harvest Moon for 2025! Usually the harvest Moon takes place in September, but every few years, it falls in October. The last time the harvest Moon occurred in October was in 2020.

Not only is this month’s full Moon the harvest Moon, some also consider it to be a super Moon. While there is no consistent definition of this term, it usually refers to a full (or new) Moon that occurs near the Moon’s perigee—its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit. It also means that the full Moon may appear slightly bigger and brighter than usual. 

The average distance from Earth to the Moon is just under 239,000 miles, while this month’s full Moon will get less than 225,000 miles from Earth at its closest point. The next two full Moons will also be super Moons—and will get even closer to Earth than this month’s super harvest Moon.

Dark Skies For The Orionid Meteor Shower

This month’s new Moon is also a night-sky highlight, not due to being able to see it, but due to everything else you can see because of the new Moon’s darkness.

Whenever one of the year’s major meteor showers occurs, it’s always recommended to find the darkest sky possible for observing meteors. This month features the Orionid meteor shower, which is caused by debris from Comet Halley. The shower is expected to peak the night of October 22 into the morning of October 23, with a maximum of a dozen or so meteors per hour under very dark, very clear skies. This year, Orionid viewers get a viewing-boost due to the new Moon not lighting-up the night sky!

Planets Visible in October

How To See Saturn

In terms of planetary action this month, Saturn appears in the sky nearly all night long. Early in the month, it’s near the eastern horizon just as the Sun is setting in the west. Late in the month, Saturn is about 15 degrees high in the east-southeast sky at sunset. It gets about 45 degrees high in the southern skies an hour or two before midnight Central Daylight time. The night of October 5 through the early-morning darkness of October 6, it appears less than five degrees below a nearly full Moon. Saturn sets a little south of west before 6:00 am early in the month, and before 4:00 am later in the month.

How To See Jupiter

The planet Jupiter rises in the east-northeast shortly after midnight at the start of the month. It rises a little earlier each night, so that by month’s end it rises around 10:30 pm. At brighter than minus-two magnitude, and getting brighter each night, it outshines the bright stars around it. Around midnight on October 14, Jupiter appears about five degrees to the right of the dark side of a last quarter Moon.

Early in the month, it gets more than 60 degrees high in the southeastern sky before it starts to fade in morning twilight. In the second half of the month, the Sun doesn’t rise until around or after 7:00 am; so Jupiter can be seen later into the morning darkness. It reaches roughly 70 degrees in the southern sky before fading high in the southwest.

How To See Venus

The brightest planet, Venus, rises a little north of east around 5:00 am at the start of the month. About halfway through the month, it rises nearly due-east around 5:30 am and by the end of the month it rises a little south of east around 6:00 am.

It shines just slightly below a bright minus-four magnitude all month long. The morning of October 19, it’s less than five degrees to the left of a very slim waning crescent Moon. The Sun rises about two hours after Venus at the start of the month, and about 90 minutes after Venus rises by the end of the month, so there’s a small window of time to see the planet before the Sun makes viewing difficult.

Can I See Mars and Mercury?

The planets Mars and Mercury appear very close to the setting Sun in October, making them very difficult, if not impossible, to see.

October 2025 Moon Phases

Full Moon: October 6

Last Quarter Moon: October 13

New Moon: October 21

First Quarter Moon: October 29

Please note: these descriptions are for the Chicago area, using Central time.

Subscribe To Skywatch Wednesday This October

Tour the sky with the Adler Planetarium’s Theaters Manager, Nick, in Skywatch Wednesday. Nick uses cutting edge visualizations, NASA images, and astrophotography to show you what you can see in the night sky throughout the year.

Check out Nick’s latest episode to guide you through the autumn night sky. Learn how to see famous fall constellations like Pegasus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, and Perseus. Nick also explains how to see the Pleiades star cluster, zodiac constellations Sagittarius and Taurus, Saturn with and without its rings, and Moon conjunctions!

Learn From Our Astronomy Educators

Watch recaps of Sky Observers Hangout livestreams this September! Learn how to observe upcoming cosmic happenings, enhance your astrophotography skills, and see celestial objects through a telescope virtually with our astronomy educators.

In the latest episode, Michelle and Hunter tell you everything you need to know about solar maximum—a period of heightened solar activity that we are currently in! Get a live view of the Sun through our telescopes and learn all about how the Sun’s activity and dynamic weather affects us here on Earth.