Halloween night sky 2026: what’s up on October 31?

Halloween night times by city

October 31, 2026 is a Saturday, and in the United States and most of Canada clocks fall back at 2 am on Sunday, November 1: Halloween night 2026 lasts one hour longer than usual. The UK and Ireland already changed on October 25. The table lists local clock times. “Full darkness” is the end of astronomical twilight, when the Sun is 18° below the horizon.

On the night, open “Sky tonight” for your exact location

Is there a full moon on Halloween 2026? No

October’s full moon, the Hunter’s Moon (the first full moon after the September 26 Harvest Moon), falls on Monday, October 26 at 12:12 am EDT (04:12 UTC). Five nights later the Moon is a waning gibbous, about 58% lit when it rises at 10:58 pm in New York, in Gemini, 6° from the star Pollux. Last quarter follows on November 1.

A full moon on October 31 is rare. The last one was on October 31, 2020, also a “blue moon” as the month’s second full moon. The next ones come in 2039 and 2058. The 19-year gap is the Metonic cycle: 235 lunar months last almost exactly 19 years, so the Moon’s phases return to the same calendar dates every 19 years.

For stargazing this is good news. Until moonrise the sky stays dark: New York has 3 h 33 min between the end of twilight and moonrise to look for the Andromeda Galaxy, the autumn Milky Way and faint nebulae.

Algol, the Demon Star, winks on Halloween night

In the constellation Perseus, the hero holds up the head of Medusa, the Gorgon whose gaze turned people to stone. Her eye is Algol (Beta Persei). The name comes from the Arabic ra’s al-ghūl, “the head of the ghoul”. Hebrew tradition called it Rosh ha Satan, “Satan’s head”, Latin writers Caput Larvae, “the spectre’s head”, and Chinese astronomy counts it as the fifth star of the “Mausoleum” (大陵五).

The reputation has a real basis: Algol visibly winks. It is an eclipsing binary. Every 2 days 20 hours 49 minutes or so, the dimmer star of the pair passes in front of the brighter one and Algol drops from magnitude 2.1 to 3.4, losing about 70% of its light during an eclipse that lasts about ten hours. Geminiano Montanari noticed the variation in 1667; John Goodricke proposed the eclipse explanation in 1783. Algol is a little over 90 light-years away.

This year the timing is perfect for North America. Published ephemerides predict a minimum during Halloween night itself: between 1:44 am EDT and 3:12 am EST on November 1 in New York (the clocks fall back in between), with Algol 72° high, almost overhead. In the UK and Ireland the minimum falls around dawn, so the fading happens in the last dark hours. To spot it, compare Algol with Almach (Gamma Andromedae, magnitude 2.1) when it is normal, then with Epsilon Persei (2.9) as it fades.

Saturn tonight, Mars and Jupiter before dawn

Saturn is the planet of the evening. It reached opposition on October 4 in Cetus and still shines at magnitude 0.4: the steady, pale yellow point low in the southeast at nightfall, due south around 10:52 pm (51° high in New York). Its rings are tilted only about 6.6° towards us, thin but visible in a small telescope.

Neptune (magnitude 7.8) lies 7° from Saturn in Pisces and needs steady binoculars and a finder chart. Uranus (magnitude 5.6), in Taurus 6° from the Pleiades, is at the limit of naked-eye visibility under a very dark sky; it reaches opposition on November 25.

Venus is out of sight: it passed between Earth and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on October 23. Mercury, 8° from the Sun, cannot be seen either.

Mars rises at 12:37 am and Jupiter at 1:08 am (New York, still daylight time), both in Leo. Before dawn on November 1 they stand high in the southeast about 6° apart; Jupiter, at magnitude −2, is the brightest planet before dawn, 6° from Regulus.

Halloween is an astronomy holiday: Samhain and the cross-quarter day

Halloween is All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints’ Day, but it absorbed much of Samhain, the Gaelic festival that marked the end of the harvest and the start of the dark half of the year. Samhain was held on November 1, with celebrations from the evening of October 31, because the Celtic day began at sunset. It appears in Irish literature from the 9th century, and the Gaulish Coligny calendar names a month SAMON with a three-night feast, TRINOX SAMONI. Most American Halloween customs came with Irish and Scottish immigrants.

Samhain is also a cross-quarter day: with Imbolc (February 1), Beltane (May 1) and Lughnasa (August 1) it falls roughly halfway between an equinox and a solstice. In 2026 the September equinox fell on September 22 at 8:05 pm EDT and the December solstice comes on December 21 at 3:50 pm EST. The exact midpoint is November 6 (22:28 UTC), a week after Halloween; the Sun reaches ecliptic longitude 225°, the astronomical middle of autumn, on November 7.

The Pleiades, the November stars of the Aztec New Fire

The Pleiades cluster (M45) rises in the east-northeast around dusk and culminates after midnight on Halloween night, 73° high from New York. Some writers link Samhain to the Pleiades crossing the meridian at midnight; today that midnight crossing happens around November 21. It is an often-repeated idea rather than an established historical fact.

For the Aztecs, the Pleiades, called Tianquiztli (“the marketplace”), timed the New Fire ceremony. Every 52 years, at the end of a full calendar cycle, every fire was put out. On the Hill of the Star (Huixachtlan, today’s Cerro de la Estrella in Mexico City), priests waited for the Pleiades to reach the zenith around midnight before kindling a new fire, the sign that the world would go on. The last ceremony took place in 1507 under Moctezuma II; the account survives in Bernardino de Sahagún’s Florentine Codex.

Witches, a skull and ghosts: spooky nebulae to find this autumn

Several deep-sky objects carry seasonal nicknames. The table shows where they are on Halloween night from New York and what you need: most call for a telescope or a long-exposure camera away from city lights.

Shooting stars: the “Halloween fireballs”

The Taurids are nicknamed the Halloween fireballs: slow meteors that, in some years, include many bright fireballs. They come from debris of Comet 2P/Encke. In 2026 the Southern Taurids peak around November 5 and the Northern Taurids around November 12, at roughly 5 meteors per hour each. Moonlight will hardly interfere: the Moon is 18% lit on November 5 and 7% on November 12, either side of the November 9 new moon. 2026 is not a swarm year: the last notable fireball returns were in 2015 and 2022, and the next is expected in 2032.

The Orionids, dust from Halley’s Comet, peak on the night of October 21–22 at 10 to 20 meteors per hour under a perfect sky, but a 81% gibbous Moon will cut that number. They stay active until November 7, so a few may still cross the sky on Halloween after Orion rises late in the evening.

Keep the sky of a Halloween night

A first meeting at a Halloween party, a baby born on October 31, the first trick-or-treat with the kids: a star map keeps the exact position of the stars, the Moon and the planets above the place and time you choose. The dark poster themes suit the night well.

The creator calculates past dates. After October 31, 2026 you can compose the exact sky of this Halloween night above your home; today you can already revisit a past one, such as the full moon of October 31, 2020. The preview is free; the HD file downloads on the site for €3.99, and prints or frames are offered separately with the price and delivery shown before payment.

See the sky of October 31, 2020 over New York for free · Create my poster (HD file €3.99) · Halloween star map gift ideas

Halloween night sky FAQ

Is there a full moon on Halloween 2026?

No. The full moon falls on Monday, October 26 (04:12 UTC). On October 31 the Moon is a waning gibbous, about 58% lit, rising at 10:58 pm in New York and 9:00 pm in London.

When is the next full moon on Halloween?

The next full moon on October 31 is in 2039, then 2058. The previous one was in 2020. The 19-year spacing is the Metonic cycle.

What time does the Moon rise on Halloween 2026?

10:58 pm in New York, 10:52 pm in Chicago, 11:23 pm in Los Angeles, 11:11 pm in Toronto, 9:00 pm in London and 9:15 pm in Dublin (local time, flat horizon).

Which planets can I see on Halloween 2026?

Saturn, magnitude 0.4, all evening in the south. Uranus and Neptune need binoculars. Mars and Jupiter rise after midnight and shine in Leo before dawn on November 1. Venus and Mercury are too close to the Sun.

Why is Algol called the Demon Star?

Its name comes from the Arabic ra’s al-ghūl, “the head of the ghoul”: it marks Medusa’s head held by Perseus. It is also a variable star: every 2 days 20 hours 49 minutes or so an eclipse dims it from magnitude 2.1 to 3.4 for about ten hours. In 2026 one of these minima falls on Halloween night in North America.

Is Halloween connected to astronomy?

Yes. Halloween absorbed Samhain, a Gaelic cross-quarter festival that falls roughly halfway between the September equinox and the December solstice. In 2026 the exact midpoint is November 6, a week after October 31.

Are there meteors on Halloween?

A few. The Taurids, nicknamed the Halloween fireballs, give about 5 meteors per hour, peaking around November 5 (southern branch) and November 12 (northern branch). The last Orionids remain active until November 7.

Can I get a poster of the sky on Halloween night?

Yes for past dates: the creator computes the sky of any Halloween up to today for the city and time you choose. The sky of October 31, 2026 can be created from the next day. The preview is free; the HD file costs €3.99.

Sources and method

Positions, times and phases computed with Astronomy Engine (version 2.1.19) for 30 m elevation, standard atmospheric refraction and a flat horizon. Local clock times. Algol minima are given as a window because the published ephemerides differ by more than two hours in 2026.

• Astronomy Engine (Don Cross): the ephemeris library used for every time and position
• Wikipedia: Algol, name, discovery and period
• RASC Calgary Centre: Sky & Telescope Algol ephemeris
• Jetsu (2021), Say hello to Algol’s new companion candidates (TIDAK ephemeris)
• Derekscope: 2026 Algol minima
• EarthSky: Halloween is a cross-quarter day
• Wikipedia: Samhain
• World History Encyclopedia: the Aztec New Fire Ceremony
• American Meteor Society: 2026 meteor shower calendar
• EarthSky: Taurid meteors in 2026
• Wikipedia: Veil Nebula, Witch Head Nebula, NGC 246, Owl Nebula