GLENWOOD WASHINGTON
INFO & WEATHER
Glenwood, WA is located
in the northwestern portion of
Klickitat County. It borders Yakima County.
The community is in the Glenwood Valley, formerly known as Camas Prairie. It is part of the Yakama Reservation.
We have a splendid view of Mt Adams.
Even though the mountain appears to be
in our back yard, it is actually in Yakima and
Skamania counties.
Lat: 46.0095°N Lon: 121.2715°W
The elevation of my weather station is 1854 ft.
Saturday December 06. Looks stormy up there.
What’s in the Sky
October 2025
Welcome to October, the first full month of Autumn. Nights grow significantly longer this month. By the end of October, sunset comes before 6pm! Earlier darkness makes for good evening stargazing, when skies are clear. Nights are colder, but not as frigid as in winter.
October will be an excellent month in which to view Saturn. The ringed planet made its closest approach to Earth in September, but is still close to Earth this month. And, it will be in better position for evening viewing. At its September 21 opposition, Saturn rose at sunset, and was at its highest in the night sky (and easiest to see) at about midnight. In mid-October, Saturn will be about 30 degrees above the horizon at 9pm. Look for Saturn as the bright “star” in the southeastern sky, below the great square of Pegasus.
The bright planets Jupiter and Venus are still early morning objects in October. Bright Venus will be prominent, low in the east before sunrise. Jupiter will be high in the southeastern morning sky. Both will be very bright, outshining everything except the Moon in October night skies.
Mars and Mercury will be low in the west after sunset, and difficult to see unless you have a clear view of the western horizon. In mid-October, the two planets will be very close to each other. Look low in the southwest after sunset. Mercury will be brighter, with dimmer Mars directly above it on the 18th.
The Moon begins October low in the south, in Capricornus. It will be just past its first quarter stage. On the 5th, the almost full Moon will lie just above Saturn, and just above faint Neptune. October’s full Moon (harvest Moon) will come on the 7th. It will be a “super moon”, about 13% brighter than average. On the 9th, the waning gibbous Moon will cross in front of the bright star cluster Pleiades. Check it out with a pair of binoculars. On the 16th, in the early morning sky, look for the Moon above the bright star Regulus high in the southeast.
On the night of October 22-23, the Orionid meteor shower will be at its peak. The Orionids originate from the famous comet Halley, which enters the inner solar system every 76 years. The comet is named after Edmund Halley, who first theorized that comets orbit the Sun and periodically return to the inner solar system. In 1682 he observed the comet that later carried his name, and calculated that it would return in 1758. Its return in that year proved Halley’s theory.
Though not as prolific as the Perseid shower, the Orionid peak this year will occur just after new Moon, with no interference from moonlight.
As mentioned earlier, on October 9 you can check out the Moon crossing in front of the bright star cluster Pleiades. While that will be an interesting view, you can get a better impression of the star cluster on dark nights, when the Moonlight does not interfere. While you are doing that, see if you can find another pretty pair of star clusters, the double-cluster in Perseus. Check out the picture with this article for the location of these two gems.
I almost forgot, what about Halloween? On the 31st, the waxing gibbous Moon will be about 75% illuminated, providing a nice amount of light for treat-seeking youngsters.
Enjoy the night skies of October!
What’s in the Sky
September 2025
September is here, a month for seasonal change. The autumnal equinox occurs on September 22, marking the start of fall. The Sun will be straight overhead at the equator, and we’ll have about equal amounts of daylight and night.
Have you ever found yourself thinking, “boy, it is sure getting darker earlier” in late August or in September? That is not your imagination. The rate of change from day to night is greatest around the equinoxes, and less around the solstices. Around the Autumnal equinox, we lose about 3 minutes of day length each day, or some 20 minutes in a week. It is noticeable! By contrast, the rate of change around the solstices is only a few seconds per day.
Saturn returns to our evening sky in September. On the 21st Saturn will be at its closest approach to us, called “opposition” as it will be opposite from the Sun in our sky. How close will it be? How about 794 million miles. That’s about 8 ½ times as far as we are from the Sun, or over 3,000 times as far as the Moon is from us.
Saturn’s rings are hard to see this year, as the rotational axis of both Saturn and Earth are on the same plane, and we see the rings as “edge-on” or very close to it. We’ll have a better view of the rings in the next few years. We’ll have another interesting sight with Saturn though. On September 3 and 19, the shadow of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, will be visible as it passes over the planet. On the 19th, you can view the shadow transit at the Goldendale Observatory. Be sure to check the Observatory web page (https://www.goldendaleobservatory.com/) for more information. You will need a reservation to visit before normal closing at midnight, but can arrive after midnight to see the shadow. The Observatory will be open until 1:30am.
September’s full Moon will be on the 7th, with new Moon following on the 21st.
Fall constellations are in the eastern sky in September. Bright Saturn points the way to a couple of them. Look for Saturn low in the east or southeast. It will outshine any nearby stars. The dim constellation Pisces is to the left of Saturn, with Aquarius to its right. Above and slightly to the left of Saturn, look for the “great square” of Pegasus, composed of 4 almost equally bright stars that form a square. The “W” shape of Cassiopeia will be above and to the left of the square, and Cygnus the Swan will be above it, high in the eastern sky. If you have binoculars, look just to the left of the square, below and to the right of Cassiopeia. Scan with your binoculars, and look for an elongated, faint, fuzzy patch of light. That is another galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, in the constellation with the same name. If you have a very dark sky, see if you can spot the galaxy with the naked eye. The Andromeda galaxy is the most distant thing we can see with the naked eye, at over 2 million light years away.
It was sad for me to see the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, the 1970 Moon mission that was short-circuited due to an explosion on the spacecraft. Lovell and astronauts Jack Sweigert & Fred Haise amazingly managed to safely return to Earth, an incredible story documented in a 1995 film by the same name. Lovell flew in space 4 times, twice during the Gemini program and twice in Apollo. He did not land on the Moon, but circled it twice, once with Apollo 8, and also with Apollo 13. The Apollo 8 mission was by design, the first humans to leave Earth orbit. The second was by necessity – the crippled Apollo 13 needed to “slingshot” around the Moon in order to gain enough speed to return to Earth quickly, before the Astronauts ran out of power and oxygen. My hats off to an American hero.
I remember the entire Mercury-Gemini-Apollo program, culminating in 12 people landing on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. By my count, 34 different astronauts went into space in those programs, and 12 walked on the Moon. Only 6 are still alive, including 4 who walked on the Moon.
Enjoy September’s night skies!
