There’s much going on this month for stargazers, including a solar eclipse.

October is also a month of transition, with summer, autumn, and even winter constellations available through the night, along with three bright planets. On top of that, nights are getting longer, a stargazer’s dream!

Summer constellations are still putting on a show in the early evening western Butler sky. Look for the bright stars Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp, Altair in Aquilla in the Eagle, and Deneb in Cygnus. The stars — Vega, Altair and Deneb — make the Summer Triangle, an asterism that serves as a great tool to help you find your way around that part of the heavens.

Another summer constellation holdout is Sagittarius the Archer, in the low southwest sky. According to Greek and Roman mythology, Sagittarius is supposed to be a centaur, half man, half horse shooting an arrow. Good luck seeing that!

Sagittarius much more resembles a teapot that’s very easy to see! If you’re stargazing away from light-polluted skies, you’ll see a ghostly ribbon of light arching up from the teapot in the southwest to the northeast horizon, cutting the sky in half. That’s the Milky Way band, the thickest part of our home galaxy. The center of our Milky Way galaxy is in that direction, just above the teapot.

In the eastern skies is the grand autumn constellation Pegasus, the winged horse. Look for a giant diamond of stars on the rise in the east. Just to the upper left of Pegasus is the Andromeda Galaxy, the next-door neighbor to our Milky Way. It’s more than 2 million light-years away, with just one light-year spanning nearly 6 trillion miles!

You can even spot it with the naked eye in super dark skies, appearing as a tiny patch of faint light. Your Sky Guide app will get you there.

If you stay up late enough, you can spot the Pleiades star cluster in the eastern sky, resembling a tiny Big Dipper. It’s also called the “Seven Little Sisters,” who are the daughters of the god Atlas. Most people can see at least six stars, but seeing seven is possible. Through binoculars or a telescope, you can see many more.

Astronomically, the Pleiades is a cluster of young stars a little over 400 light-years away.

Among the autumn constellations are the giants of the solar system, Saturn and Jupiter.

As evening sets in, Saturn is already above the southeastern horizon in the low southeastern skies. It’s easy to spot since it’s the brightest star-like object in that part of the sky. Saturn is simply outstanding through even a small telescope. You should easily be able to resolve Saturn’s vast ring system and maybe even some of its moons, especially Titan, the moon larger than the planet Mercury. Viewing Saturn for the first time through a telescope, even a smaller one, is beyond magical.

Jupiter majestically rises above the east-northeast horizon just after 8 p.m. in early October and just after 6 p.m. toward the end of the month. There’s no mistaking Jupiter. Not only is it much brighter than Saturn, but it’s the brightest star-like object in the sky until well after midnight. It’s brighter than Saturn because it’s bigger and closer.

At the beginning of October, the 88,000-mile diameter planet is a little under 384 million miles away, but it’s closing in on us. By the end of the month, it will be a little over 370 million miles away.

Jupiter is also wonderful through a telescope. You can clearly see the disk of the giant planet and up to four of Jupiter's largest moons that resemble tiny stars on either side of the planet. On Oct. 1, the waning full or gibbous moon will be parked just the lower left of Jupiter making for a lovely celestial sight!

In the early morning pre-twilight hours, Jupiter will be the brightest beacon in the western half of the sky, but by 4 a.m. Venus is up above the eastern horizon and is even brighter than Jupiter. The great winter constellations share the eastern sky with Venus, including majestic Orion, Gemini and many more.

Among them are some of the brightest stars available to Earth, including Sirius, Betelgeuse and Rigel.

On Oct. 14, we’ll be treated to a partial solar eclipse as the moon gets in the way between Earth and the sun. It’ll be the first of two solar eclipses in less than six months! I’ll have more on them next weekend in Starwatch.

In the meantime, it would be a good idea to order some safe solar eclipse glasses online. Not only can you use them on Oct. 14 but also for the major April 8 eclipse next year. For a list of safe solar eclipse glasses put out by the American Astronomical Association, NASA and others, visit the website, eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of "Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations," published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.