NASA’s SDO also caught a blink-of-an-eye ‘eclipse’ yesterday, as the Moon crossed the spacecraft’s view:

The 5.5% illuminated waxing gibbous Moon and Mercury make a pretty pair low to the west tomorrow night.

The Moon, fresh off New passes Venus, Mercury, and Spica over the next few evenings low to the west. Venus is fading from the scene fast as it heads towards solar conjunction on October 24th, while 0 magnitude Mercury reaches greatest eastern (dusk) elongation 25 degrees from the Sun tomorrow.

You were right: it was SatNetLEO Group-27. Tracking IDs are up now as ID 2026-230A, with a favorable pass tonight. Now, if skies would only clear...

Thanks... we were clouded out here in TN this AM with the remnants of Isaias. Tomorrow should still provide a nice view of Mars and the Beehive.

The planet Mars transits the Beehive open star cluster in the heart of the constellation Cancer the Crab this weekend at dawn, adding an extra orange jewel to Praesepe. Also known as Messier 44, the cluster often hosts several planets throughout the year as it lies close to the ecliptic plane.

Isaias has strengthened into a category 2 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico overnight, and is set to make landfall tonight as a Cat 3 storm along the Florida panhandle/Alabama coast. Tomorrow is also New Moon which could add to tidal surge as the storm comes ashore. Here’s NOAA’s GOES-19 view this AM:

Next up, the Draconid meteors peak tonight. Normally an obscure shower, the Draconids are prone to occasional outbursts, as last occurred on 2022. 2026 isn’t predicted to be an outburst year, as the source comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner reached perihelion in early 2025, but you just never know.

Based on the current orbit of the ISS, sighting ops for the return of Crew Dragon favors latitudes 0-30S at dawn, and 20-40S at dusk.