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Best Astrophotography Dates in October 2025: Night Sky Calendar

Ryan Oswald
Sep 29
3 min read

TL;DR (at-a-glance):

✅ Go: Oct 13–24 · ⚠️ Good/Marginal: Oct 12, 25–26 · ⛔ Skip: Oct 1–11, 27–31

🌑 New Moon: Oct 21 · 💫 Orionids: Oct 22–23 · ☄ Comet Watch: Oct 20–23

What to shoot in the night sky in October 2025

Shorter, darker evenings return. Target the Milky Way at dusk during Oct 13–24, add the Orionids near new moon, watch for a Comet Watch (Oct 20–23) and work in Saturn as a bright evening anchor..

Top Astrophotography Nights — September 2025

Best Milky Way Run: October

Best Milky Way run (green): Oct 13–24
Good/Marginal (yellow): Oct 12, Oct 25–26 (thin crescent sets early)
Skip vs. quality (red): Oct 1–11 (gibbous → full) and Oct 27–31 (bright evening moon + very low core)

Meteor Showers

Draconids

Peak Night: Oct 8 (evening)
Active Window: ~Oct 6 – Oct 10
Best Time to Shoot: Dusk to ~midnight (radiant high at dusk)
Expected Rate: Low–moderate; gibbous moon week will wash out faint meteors

Orionids

Peak Night: Oct 22–23 (pre-dawn)
Active Window: Oct 2 – Nov 12
Best Time to Shoot: 1:00 AM to pre-dawn (radiant climbs before sunrise)
Expected Rate: ~5/hr in dark skies; New Moon Oct 21 = excellent contrast

Taurids (Southern & Northern)

Peak Night: (N. Taurids Peaks in November; S. Taurids Peaks October 10)
Active Window: All October (S Taurids already active; N Taurids begin late month)
Best Time to Shoot: 10:00 PM to pre-dawn
Expected Rate: Sparse but fireball-prone; slow, bright meteors great for wide nightscapes

Southern Taurids (fireball-prone, slow)

This meteor shower event is longer than others and known for producing bright fireballs, with a low rate of meteors per around, only around 5

Tip: Treat as a bonus while shooting wide nightscapes; rates are sparse but meteors can be bright

Days You Can Shoot the Milky Way in October

15

Green (prime): Oct 13–24
Marginal but usable (yellow): Oct 12, Oct 25–26 — keep the core well above the horizon and use terrain to block moon glow
Not recommended vs. the rest (red): Oct 1–11, Oct 27–31

Calendar of nights you can and cannot shoot the milky way based on the moon schedule and milky way schedule

Notes:

In October the core is an evening-only target. Your window is roughly astronomical dusk (~7:40–8:10 PM) → ~10:30–11:15 PM, shrinking through the month.
Direction: SSW → SW → WSW. Front-load longer compositions to Oct 13–20 while the core sits higher.

Milky Way Core Visibility

MILKY WAY RISE	ALREADY UP BY ASTRONOMICAL DUSK
BEST MILKY WAY WINDOW	~7:50–8:05 PM → ~11:00 PM
CORE ALTITUDE “SWEET SPOT”	~8:30–9:45 PM
DIRECTION	SSW → SW → WSW

*APPROXIMATE MILKY WAY INFO BASED ON MOAB LOCATION. (Use your app for per-night precision.)

Moon Phases

🌕

FULL MOON

OCTOBER 6

🌑

NEW MOON

OCTOBER 21

Tips & Guides

Oct 12 (marginal): Use cliffs/mesas to mask residual glow; keep the core 15–25° above the horizon.
Oct 13–24 (prime): Blue-hour foreground + dark-sky blend workflow; expect some airglow.
Oct 25–26: Start right at astro-dark; the thin crescent moon sets early.
Orionids: Face SE–S after midnight; run consistent 15–30s timelapse frames.
Planets: Frame Saturn in early evening dust lanes (50–135 mm)