In October, residents of Russia will be able to observe Earth's close approach to Saturn, Mars passing through the Beehive Cluster, and two meteor showers — the Draconids and Orionids. Vladilen Sanakoev, an engineer at the Ural Federal University (UrFU) astronomical observatory, told TASS about this.
On October 4, Earth will make its closest approach to Saturn — the distance will be about 1.26 billion km. Near opposition, the planet's rings and moons are most noticeable; a telescope with at least 20x magnification will be needed to observe them. Saturn will rise in the east in the evening, and around 1 AM, it will be in the southern part of the sky at an altitude of up to 35 degrees.
On the night of October 4-5, the Moon will serve as a guide to find Mars, and on October 11 and 12, the planet will pass through the open cluster Beehive — through binoculars, you can see the reddish-orange Mars surrounded by a hundred stars.
On the night of October 8-9, the Draconid meteor shower is expected. Conditions are favorable: the Moon will not interfere with its light, and it can be observed all night, although a meteor storm is not predicted this year. On the night of October 21-22, Earth will cross the dust trail of Halley's Comet — this is the Orionid shower. Its intensity will be up to 15-20 meteors per hour; it is best to watch in the pre-dawn hours when the radiant in the constellation Orion rises highest.
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