Skynotes: October 2025

A Century of Planetariums

It’s been a remarkable journey from 1925 to 2025 bringing the stars indoors for all to enjoy. Learn the story of technical innovation and creativity in this article from The Conversation, For 100 years, we have marvelled at planetariums.

Central GOTO star projector and audience under the dome of the H V McKay Planetarium, Melbourne, circa 1970. / Source: MV Collections

Interior of Melbourne’s first ‘night sky theatre’, the H.V. McKay Planetarium located on Swanston St in the heart of Melbourne in the then Science Museum (formerly the Institute of Applied Science), a building now fully occupied by the State Library. A popular attraction for the public and schools, the planetarium operated from 1965 until 1997. This 1970s photo shows circular seating for around 110, the central Japanese GOTO M-1 optical star projector, and the 10-metre fibreglass dome with mock city skyline. Seasonal and specially themed shows were all live, and included images from mechanical slide projectors and special effects projectors, sound effects, music, and commentary by the presenter.

December Skynotes will feature more about Melbourne's first planetarium as we mark the 60th anniversary of its opening in December 1965.  

Melbourne Sun times 

*When the sun is at its highest, crossing the meridian or local longitude.  

Moon Phases

Moon Distance

Friday 24th is lunar apogee (furthest from Earth) at 406,444 km.

Tuesday 8th is lunar perigee (nearest to Earth) at 359,819 km.

Planets

Mercury after its solar conjunction, is now visible again in the west from 8pm before setting around 9pm.

Venus has drawn too close to the Sun this month for observers in Melbourne.

Mars is about to have its solar conjunction and pass behind the Sun but can still be seen this month low in the west at twilight from around 8:15pm before setting by 9:30pm.  

Jupiter is now visible again from 3am in the east before fading in the dawn light by 6:30am.  

Saturn can now be seen again in the east at dusk from 8pm, after which it will move across the northern sky before setting in the west by 5am.  

Meteors 

The Orionids appear from the 15th-29th but peak on the 21st-22nd with perhaps 30 meteors per hour from midnight until dawn. Centred on Orion near the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, they are typically very fast and bright entering the atmosphere at 66 km per second and vaporising 100 km above the surface leaving persistent trails. Dr Tanya Hill and Professor Jonti Horner explain the meteor shower in The Conversation.

Stellarium view for Orionids around 1am AEDT / Source: Stellarium

The Orionids shower was first recorded by the Chinese in 288 AD and is associated with Comet Halley. In 1705, Edmund Halley, after studying records of comets that seemed to re-occur and using Isaac Newton’s new laws of motion, calculated the comet’s orbit and predicted its return in 1758 (something he did not live to see). Every 75 years Comet Halley passes through the inner solar system leaving a trail of particles for Earth to pass through twice a year - the April/May Eta Aquarids and the October Orionids.

Stars and constellations

In the north

Visible this season are Aquila (the Eagle) and its principal star Altair (Alpha Aquilae) directly north.

In the west

Scorpius is now moving down to the west with the red-giant star Antares the middle of three stars that mark the scorpion’s body. High above following the scorpion is the asterism ‘the teapot’ which gives you the position of the bow and arrow held by the centaur Sagittarius. The centre of our Milky Way galaxy lies in that direction some 26,000 light years away.

In the east

Formalhaut in Piscis Austrinus (Southern Fish) is the bright evening star in the east this month. But as spring ends and we move towards summer we will progressively begin to see from the north-east to the south-east a rich collection of night sky objects:

• The beautiful Pleiades cluster (the Seven Sisters).
• Taurus the bull with red giant star
• The inverted Orion the hunter (with the right way up ‘Saucepan’ at its centre), and red supergiant
• Canis Major and the brightest night time star Sirius (also known as The Dog Star).

In the south

In a dark sky in the south-east are the isolated Large and Small Clouds of Magellan (our galaxy’s nearest neighbours) as well as the vast band of billions of stars and dark dust clouds that make up what we can see of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. In the evenings this month it runs in a broad arc from south to north. From our location in our disc-shaped galaxy we have an edge-on view along the plane of the galaxy where the density of stars is greatest. As you look away from the Milky Way to either side of the sky you see far fewer stars because in those directions you are looking through only a few thousand light years out into intergalactic space, to the north or to the south of the galactic plane.

Low in the south-west are the Pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri, in the constellation of Centaurus (the other centaur in our night skies). Following the line of the two bright Pointers leads to the Crux (Southern Cross).

International Space Station

At a distance of about 400km the ISS completes an orbit every 90 minutes and appears as a bright point slowly moving across the night sky. Here are some of the brightest passes expected this month over Melbourne:

Morning

Saturday 4^th 5:17am-5:23am South-West to East-North-East

Tuesday 7^th 5:27am-5:32am South-West to North-East

Evening

Saturday 11^th 8:25pm-8:32pm North-West to South-East

Tuesday 28^th 8:52pm-8:57pm South-West to North-East

Heavens Above gives predictions for visible passes of space stations and major satellites, live sky views and 3D visualisations. Be sure to first enter your location under ‘Configuration’.

On this day