On October 6 after darkness falls look for the Moon in the constellation Aquarius and is near the beautiful Helix Nebula. The two objects are about 5 degrees apart – equal to the width of your three middle fingers held at arm’s length. This observing challenge is for backyard telescopes as this planetary nebula is 7.6 magnitude – too faint for the human eye and too small and diffuse for even binoculars. The Helix is an expanding cloud of gas and dust remains of a dying star 789 light years from Earth. The close-up photos below are of the same Helix nebula, snapped by two space telescopes: Hubble in visible light and Spitzer in infrared.
Weekly Night Sky Video: https://youtu.be/HJe5OfIDHT8?t=755
