# Night sky news, October 28, 2026: moon, events, aurora

Waning Gibbous, 89% lit. 1 sky event this week and 3 sourced news items for October 28, 2026.

## The sky on October 28, 2026

**Moon.** On the evening of October 28, 2026 the Moon is waning gibbous, 89% illuminated. That day the Moon sets at 10:31 AM MDT and rises at 7:32 PM MDT. Times are for Denver, Colorado; they shift by minutes to an hour elsewhere in the US and Canada.

### Visible this week

- [Aurora Outlook: Solar Cycle 25 Decline](https://darkskiesdirectory.com/events/aurora-outlook-2026-2028), September 24, 2026 to December 31, 2028. Northern US states and all of Canada; strong geomagnetic storms can push visibility as far south as the mid-latitude US.

## Sourced stories

### [Sun's outer magnetic field mapped in 3D for the first time](https://darkskiesdirectory.com/nightly-news/2026-10-28/sun-s-outer-magnetic-field-mapped-in-3d-for-the-first-time)

Source: [Phys.org (Space News section)](https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sun-outer-magnetic-field-3d.html)

Researchers have mapped the Sun's outer magnetic field in 3D for the first time. Better models of that field feed into space weather forecasts, including the geomagnetic storms that produce auroras.

### [APOD: 2026 October 28: The Mutual Occultation of Ganymede and Io](https://darkskiesdirectory.com/nightly-news/2026-10-28/apod-2026-october-28-the-mutual-occultation-of-ganymede-and-io)

Source: [NASA (all news)](https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-october-28-the-mutual-occultation-of-ganymede-and-io/)

A video shows Ganymede briefly blocking Io from view on Oct. 20, 2026, a mutual occultation of two of Jupiter's Galilean moons. These events are rare because they need an edge on view of the moons' orbits, which happens about once every six years when Jupiter reaches its equinox. Ganymede also cast its shadow on Jupiter's right side, so this is a chance that does not come around often.

### [NASA systems engineering team details Habitable Worlds Observatory mission architecture](https://darkskiesdirectory.com/nightly-news/2026-10-28/nasa-systems-engineering-team-details-habitable-worlds-observatory-mission-architecture)

Source: [Phys.org (Space News section)](https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-team-habitable-worlds-observatory.html)

NASA's systems engineering team has outlined the mission architecture for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a planned telescope meant to search for Earth-like planets around other stars.

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Canonical: https://darkskiesdirectory.com/nightly-news/2026-10-28
Updated: 2026-10-28T23:00:28.766Z