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What's up for October? This month's viewing tips for Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. When's the best time to observe the destination of NASA's next deep space mission? And how you can see a (potentially bright) comet this month?

And watch our video 'till the end for photos of highlights from last month’s skies.

Up first, we look at the visibility of the planets in October. Look for Venus low in the west just after sunset. It's setting by the time the sky is fully dark. Saturn is visible toward the southeast as soon as it gets dark out, and sets by dawn. Mars rises around midnight all month. By dawn it has climbed quite high into the south-southeastern sky, appearing together with Jupiter. Now, Jupiter is rising in the first half of the night. In early October you'll find it high in the south as dawn approaches, and later in the month it's progressed farther over to the west before sunrise.

And, speaking of Jupiter, NASA plans to launch its latest solar system exploration mission to one of the giant planet's moons this month. Europa Clipper is slated to blast off as early as October 10th. It's thought that Europa holds an enormous ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy surface. That makes this the first mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. Europa Clipper is designed to help us understand whether this icy moon could support some form of life, and along the way it'll teach us more about the conditions that make a world habitable.

Now, if you've ever pointed binoculars or a telescope at Jupiter, you know the thrill of seeing the little star-like points of light next to it that are its four large moons, which were first observed by Galileo in 1610.

There are two mornings in October, the 11th and the 25th, when you can most easily observe Europa. These are times when the moon is at its greatest separation from the planet as seen from here on Earth, and it's all by itself to one side of Jupiter. So be sure to have your own peek at Jupiter's moon Europa this month, as a new NASA mission begins its journey to explore an ocean in the sky.

Now a look at Moon and planet pair-ups for October. On the 13th and 14th after dark, look for the nearly full Moon with Saturn toward the southeast. Then on the evening of October 20th, the Moon rises near Jupiter, with the giant planet looking extremely bright.

You should be able to find them low in the east after around 10 pm that night. Then, in the morning of Oct. 23rd and 24th, early risers will be able to spot Mars together with the Moon, high overhead in the south.

October offers a chance to observe what could be the brightest comet of the year. Earlier this year we got a look at Comet 12P, which was visible with binoculars but not super bright. Now another of these ancient and icy dust balls is streaking through our neighborhood on an 80,000-year orbit from the distant reaches of the Oort Cloud. The comet, known as C/2023 A3, aka Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, is currently speeding through the inner solar system. It passed its closest to the Sun in late September, and will be at its closest to Earth on October 13th. And after that time, through the end of the month, will be the best time to look for it. This is when the comet will become visible low in the western sky beginning during twilight.

It will quickly rise higher each subsequent evening, making it easier to observe, but it'll also be getting a little fainter each night. As with all comets, predictions for how bright it could get are uncertain. If the comet's tail is brilliantly illuminated by the Sun, predictions show that it could become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. But comets have a way of surprising us, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Your best shot at seeing it will be from around October 14th through the 24th, with binoculars or a small telescope, and a reasonably clear view toward the west. So good luck, and clear skies, comet hunters!

Watch our video for views of what some of the highlights we told you about in last month's video actually looked like.

Stay up to date on all of NASA's missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov.

Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Written by: PRESTON DYCHES

Published: 06 October 2024

GLENHAVEN, Calif. — A fire that began near Glenhaven on Friday morning quickly grew in size and moved toward Clearlake Oaks, leading to the evacuation of thousands of Northshore residents, prompting temporary road closures and resulting in the sheriff’s declaration of a local emergency.

Cal Fire said the Glenhaven fire began at approximately 11:37 a.m. Friday at Hillcrest and Henderson drives.

Shortly before 1 p.m., when the fire was still at an estimated 50 acres, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office began issuing mandatory evacuation orders, one each in Glenhaven and Clearlake Oaks, and also issuing two warnings in the two communities. Another half-dozen evacuation zones were added in Clearlake Oaks by 3 p.m.

The county opened temporary evacuation points at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center and the former Pearce Field airport in Clearlake. An evacuation shelter was set up at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown.

Meanwhile, observers said the fire appeared to be moving along the ridge line as it moved toward High Valley and Clearlake Oaks.

Gusty winds on Friday afternoon appeared to be driving the flames, and there were numerous reports of spot fires. Cal Fire noted concern about additional spotting as the westerly winds continued through the day.

The situation led to authorities closing Highway 20 at Clearlake Oaks for several hours. However, by nightfall, the highway had been reopened through the fire area.

Cal Fire assigned a large number of aircraft to work the fire. Additional ground resources also were requested to respond.

By early evening, shortly after 5 p.m., the fire was reported to have burned 300 acres, growing by another 100 acres over the course of another hour.

Just before 7 pm. Friday, the Lake County Office of Emergency Services reported that Sheriff Rob Howe had declared a local emergency in response to the fire. That declaration is expected to be ratified by the Board of Supervisors next week.

As of 8 pm. Friday, the fire remained at 403 acres, with no containment.

Cal Fire reported that two structures had been destroyed, with 2,553 structures threatened and 3,475 people evacuated.

On Friday night, at least one helicopter appeared to be continuing to work on the fire.

By that point, the fire was continuing to put off a large amount of smoke, some of which had crossed over into the Sacramento Valley by evening.

A lengthy row of flashing red lights revealed fire vehicles lining a road at the top of a hill overlooking Clearlake Oaks, and more units were staged at Lakeview Drive and Highway 20.

Cal Fire said Friday night that the fire’s most active area was near Cerritos Drive. It was continuing to put off spot fires to the north towards High Valley and the east towards Clearlake Oaks.

Cal Fire said air and ground resources are working on picking up the spot fires as well as fortifying control lines mid-slope to keep the fire from backing down towards Highway 20.

A total of 25 engines, four water tenders, five helicopters, five dozers and four hand crews have been assigned to the incident, Cal Fire said.

In a report issued just after 10 p.m., Cal Fire said forward progress on the fire had been stopped as of 9:40 p.m., with containment at 10%.

By 11 p.m., four zones remained under mandatory evacuation — one in Glenhaven and three in Clearlake Oaks: Zones GLE-E094-B, CLO-E098, CLO-E099 and CLO-E106. That area is located north of Highway 20, west of High Valley Road, south of Cerritos Road and east of Harvey Boulevard.

Evacuation orders have been lifted for three other zones in Clearlake Oaks and warnings were in effect in three zones in Clearlake Oaks and two in Glenhaven. The zones can be seen in real time here.

Officials have so far said the Glenhaven fire’s cause remains under investigation.

The fire follows by less then a month the Boyles fire in Clearlake, which burned an estimated 35 homes and another 32 outbuildings.

Lingzi Chen contributed to this report.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 04 October 2024

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Sheriff Rob Howe has declared a local emergency in response to the Glenhaven fire, which began on Friday.

The fire led to the evacuation of residents, threatened more than 2,000 structures, and resulted in road closures impacting residents and travelers throughout Lake County, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, or OES, reported.

OES said that in the early hours of the fire, fire and law enforcement agencies quickly focused on fire suppression, safeguarding life and property, and evacuating residents.

Simultaneously, numerous county departments and local agencies mobilized to support the response to include temporary evacuation points, overnight shelter for evacuees and their pets, transportation out of the evacuation zone, and deployment of additional supportive resources.

OES said it is coordinating these efforts to ensure comprehensive and unified support to the response to the Glenhaven fire.

Public information is available at:

• Protect.Genasys.com: Evacuation zone status and more.
• lakesheriff.com: View previously issued LakeCoAlerts (Nixles) and register to receive LakeCoAlerts if needed.
• https://Ready.LakeCountyCA.gov : A comprehensive preparedness, response and recovery site with information specific to the Glenhaven fire.
• Lake County Sheriff’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lakesheriff. 

OES said donations are not needed at this time.

With low humidity expected through the weekend, fire risks remain elevated. The Sheriff’s OES is actively monitoring conditions and coordinating with responders.

Residents are highly encouraged to avoid spark producing activities, maintain a go-bag, ensure LakeCoAlert registration information is up to date and share information with neighbors.

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Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS

Published: 04 October 2024