August gets top billing for meteor shower activity because the Perseids meteor shower peaks that month, but don't sleep on October when it comes to wishing upon a shooting star. 

Three meteor showers are active during the month and one — the Orionids — peaks in October. The Orionids is a long-lasting meteor shower stretching from Sept. 26 to Nov. 22, and it will peak the night of Oct. 20 to 21, the American Meteor Society reports. Meteor showers produce the most shooting stars during their peak period. The Orionids is considered a medium-strength shower, and it typically produces between 10 and 20 meteors each hour during peak activity. Viewing of the Orionids will be dampened this year, however, because the moon will be 83% full the night of the peak. 

If you miss the Orionids at its peak, all hope for seeing a meteor is not lost. Both the northern Taurids and the southern Taurids are active in October as well, although both experience peak activity in November, the meteor society reports. The southern Taurids began Sept. 23 and runs through Dec. 8, peaking the night of Nov. 4 into 5, while the northern Taurids begins Oct. 13 and lasts until Dec. 2, peaking the night of Nov. 11 into 12.

During the window when the two Taurids meteor showers overlap, there can be an increased uptick in both meteor activity and fireball activity. In particular, the longer-lasting southern Taurids is noted for its fireball activity, according to the meteor society. Fireballs are meteors, but they are brighter than typical shooting stars and often end with an explosion of light as they streak through the sky.

On the night of Oct.17, cast your eyes to the sky for a glimpse of the hunter's moon, as the October full moon is called except on the occasions that the October full moon is the harvest moon. (Harvest moon is the name given to the full moon closest in date to the first day of autumn, known as the autumn equinox.) October's full moon this year will reach its fullest point at 6:26 a.m. Oct. 17. It will be low on the horizon, so you can make plans to watch it rise just after the sun sets that evening, the Old Farmer's Almanac reports. 

The October full moon is the third in a string of four consecutive supermoons. These so-called supermoons occur when the moon is full at the same time it makes its closest approach to Earth, NASA reports. This can make it look 14% to 30% larger than the smallest-looking full moons of the year, which are called micromoons. 

The hunter's moon nickname is thought to stem from the idea that it occurs during the time of year when hunters would traditionally be preparing for the winter by hunting, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. It's also a time of year when hunting is made easier by the fact that deer and other commonly hunted animals could be less difficult for hunters to find as they scavenged just-cleared fields for leftover food to eat. 

Native people traditionally gave the full moons names associated with seasonal signs and activities, the Old Farmer's Almanac reports. Based on that, other nicknames for the October full moon have included the drying rice moon, freezing moon, ice moon, falling leaves moon and migrating moon. 

One sky-watching event we will miss out on here in North America is the annular solar eclipse that will occur on Oct. 2. Unfortunately, it will only be visible over southern Argentina, southern Chile and parts of the Pacific Ocean, Space.com reports. These eclipses, which are also called ring of fire eclipses, occur when the moon moves in front of sun while it is a little farther away from Earth than during a total solar eclipse. When this happens, most of the sun's face is obscured by the moon, but a small ring remains around the outside, creating the so-called ring of fire. 

The next time an annular solar eclipse will be visible over North America won't be until February 2046, but even then you will have to travel to see it. That ring of fire eclipse will only be visible in northern California, southern Oregon, northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and Hawaii.