The celestial tapestry of October's night sky offers a chance to pinpoint the general directions of several of humanity's most ambitious space missions. Though these spacecraft are far too distant to be seen with the naked eye, their locations are tracked with incredible precision. This guide details where five legendary spacecraft—the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Parker Solar Probe, Juno, New Horizons, and Voyager 1—can be found relative to familiar stars and constellations.
1. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
The James Webb Space Telescope is a premier infrared observatory designed to study the early universe, exoplanets, and cosmic evolution.
Location and Orbit: JWST is not in Earth orbit like the Hubble Space Telescope. It operates in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, on the side opposite the Sun. This stable gravitational point allows it to maintain a constant, cold environment essential for its infrared instruments.
In the October Night Sky: To find the general direction of JWST, you'll need to locate the constellation Taurus ♉ (The Bull) and the red giant star Aldebaran.
Find the bright star Aldebaran, which is generally visible halfway up the eastern sky around midnight in October.
JWST's location is generally found close to the famous Pleiades (or Seven Sisters) star cluster, which is also in Taurus. Specifically, its position can be approximated to about $5^\circ$ (roughly the width of your three middle fingers held at arm's length) below the Pleiades. It travels closer to Aldebaran and the rest of the stars in the constellation Taurus as the month progresses.
2. Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe is on a mission to study the Sun's outer corona, tracing the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind.
Location and Mission: This probe is closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, enduring extreme heat to collect data. Its distance from Earth constantly changes as it completes close flybys of the Sun. In October, its distance from Earth is in the tens of millions of miles.
In the October Night Sky: Its patch of sky is found low in the southwestern sky at sunset.
First, locate the bright, reddish star Antares in the constellation Scorpius ♏.
The Parker Solar Probe's location is approximately $5^\circ$ to the upper left of Antares, with the constellation Ophiuchus ⛎ shining above it and the "Teapot" asterism of Sagittarius ♐ to its left.
3. Juno Spacecraft
The Juno spacecraft is in orbit around Jupiter 🪐, investigating the planet's origin, interior structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere.
Location and Mission: Juno is in a highly elliptical polar orbit around Jupiter. For observers on Earth, its direction will be closely aligned with the planet it is currently studying.
In the October Night Sky:
Look for the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini ♊ (The Twins), which twinkle high overhead in the eastern sky during the predawn hours.
Jupiter itself is easy to find as a steady, bright "morning star" shining to the lower right of Castor and Pollux. The Juno spacecraft is essentially located in the direction of Jupiter.
4. New Horizons
The New Horizons mission conducted a historic flyby of Pluto in 2015 and then the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth in 2019. It continues to travel into the Kuiper Belt.
Location and Distance: New Horizons is an immense distance from Earth, traveling in the outer reaches of the solar system, billions of miles away.
In the October Night Sky:
Locate the famous "Teapot" asterism at the heart of the constellation Sagittarius ♐ above the southern horizon in the hours following sunset.
Next, look above the trapezium of stars that form the handle of the asterism and locate the star Pi Sagittarii. New Horizons' general direction is about $1^\circ$ to the upper right of this star.
5. Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is one of humanity's most distant objects, having crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space. It is traveling at a constant escape velocity away from the solar system.
Location and Distance: Voyager 1 is currently the most distant human-made object from Earth, at a distance of over 15 billion miles. Its trajectory takes it toward the constellation Camelopardalis.
In the October Night Sky: Voyager 1's approximate direction can be found by locating the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus ⛎ (The Serpent-Bearer) close to the western horizon in the hours following sunset in October.
Note for Observation 🔭
It is impossible to spot these spacecraft with an amateur telescope or the naked eye. They are all incredibly small and immensely distant from Earth, even those orbiting the Sun's L2 point like JWST. The purpose of knowing their location in the night sky is to appreciate the exact region of space where these legendary probes are currently conducting their groundbreaking research.