October is a great time for birdwatching on the Outer Banks, with the arrival of migratory waterfowl, raptors, shorebirds and songbirds, here just in time for the Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival that continues through Sunday.
October begins with dark skies on the heels of a black moon, ideal conditions for viewing deep-space objects, and offers monthlong meteor showers with a good chance of spotting a fireball.
This is a good month to view the Andromeda Galaxy, the home to more than a trillion stars that are 2.5 million light years away from our home.
Visitors to Cape Hatteras National Seashore are invited along to watch rangers excavate hatched sea turtle nests. If they’re lucky, they might even see a baby turtle scurry to the sea.
For some birds, the “fall” migration actually starts in July and August when they leave northern nesting grounds and head south looking for more food.
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores last week opened its tanks to five injured or sick baby turtles, the first of the nesting season. Many more are expected.
The Perseid meteor shower will be the main show in the night sky through mid-August, and experts think this year’s display will be particularly spectacular.
July will begin with Jupiter, Mars and Saturn all prominent in the evening sky and will end with two meteor showers, the Delta Aquairids and the Perseids.
The triangle formed by Mars, Saturn and Antares will continue to parade across the southern sky this month. And Saturn will be about as bright as it gets.
Mars is the celestial star this month. It will be in opposition on May 22, which will be a great opportunity to view the planet.
Jupiter is the most prominent of the three planets that will be visible through most of April. The month will start with Orion, the hunter, as the most prominent constellation and It will end with the Lyrid meteor shower.
Venus, Saturn and Mars will be visible in the pre-dawn skies during March but Jupiter, at its closest to Earth, will be on full display for evening stargazers this month.
Winner of 26 North Carolina Press Association awards in 2019
