Big Dipper

Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation (25 degrees) at 10:00 UT.

The peak of the Draconid meteor shower (10 to 30 per hour) occurs at 8:00 UT; Venus is 5 degrees south of the Moon at 12:00 UT; a double Galilean shadow transit begins at 15:36 UT.

Saturn is 1.9 degrees north of the Moon at 4:00 UT.

Mercury is 3 degrees south of the Moon at 22:00 UT.

The New Moon (lunation 1123) occurs at 0:34 UT; a double Galilean shadow transit begins at 2:39 UT.

Venus is at aphelion today; Uranus (magnitude 5.7, apparent size 3.7") is at opposition at 14:00 UT.

Mars is 7 degrees north of the Moon at 6:00 UT; a double Galilean shadow transit begins at 13:43 UT.

A double Galilean satellite shadow transit (Io’s shadow follows Europa’s) begins at 0:46 UT; Jupiter is 5 degrees north of the Moon at 9:00 UT; the Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to occur at 9:52 UT.

Last Quarter Moon occurs at 3:55 UT; the Moon is at apogee, subtending 29 arc minutes from a distance of 404,308 kilometers (251,225 miles), at 18:00 UT.

Mercury is 0.8 degrees north of Spica at 19:00 UT.

The autumnal equinox occurs in the northern hemisphere at 20:44 UT.

Venus is 4 degrees south of Saturn at 0:00 UT.

Full Moon (known as the Barley, Corn, or Fruit Moon), this year’s Harvest Moon, occurs at 11:13 UT.

Neptune is 6 degrees south of the Moon at 23:00 UT.

The Moon is at perigee, subtending 32 arc minutes from a distance of 367,391 kilometers (228,286 miles), at 17:00 UT.

The Lunar X (the Purbach or Werner Cross), an X-shaped illumination effect involving various rims and ridges between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach, is predicted to occur at 6:42 UT; First Quarter Moon occurs at 17:08 UT.

Saturn is 2 degrees north of the Moon at 17:00 UT.

The Moon is 0.8 degree north of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis), with an occultation visible from western Russia, central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, northern Africa, Europe, southern Greenland, and eastern Canada; at 8:15 UT; a double Galilean satellite shadow transit (Callisto’s shadow follows Io’s) begins at 15:20 UT; Venus is 0.4 degrees north of the Moon, with an occultation visible from the Falkland Islands, southern South America, the Pitcairn Islands, French Polynesia, and Kiribati at 21:00 UT; Mars lies within the boundaries of the bright open cluster M44 (Praesepe or the Beehive) in Cancer at 22:00 UT.

New Moon (lunation 1122) occurs at 11:36 UT; Venus is 1.8 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) at 13:00 UT.

Mars is 6 degrees north of the Moon at 10:00 UT.

Fatal Attraction Black holes are the beating heart of galaxies. It seems that they are pivotal in their evolution, but they also have a destructive side. A dust cloud more massive than the size of the Earth is on a doomed course, as it careers towards the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. Chris Lintott talks to the astronomer royal about this cataclysmic encounter. To see all upcoming broadcasts of this edition, please click here.

The Moon is at apogee, subtending 29 arc minutes from a distance of 404,881 kilometers (251,581 miles), at 0:00 UT; Jupiter is 4 degrees north of the Moon at 17:00 UT.

The Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped clair-obscur illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to occur at 21:52 UT.

Last Quarter Moon occurs at 9:35 UT.

Neptune (magnitude 7.8, apparent size 2.3") is at opposition at 2:00 UT.