The waxing gibbous Moon shines below the Pleiades and right of Aldebaran Saturday evening - watch the Moon's dark limb occult a star later that night.
Can you spot the fingernail-thin crescent Moon in twilight Friday night? It's less than two days old as seen after sunset from North America.
After dark you'll find the Pleiades high in the east, with Aldebaran and the Hyades below them. Far below these, Orion is beginning to clear the horizon.
Have you ever watched a Sirius-rise? Watch for Sirius to come up about two fists at arm's length below Orion's Belt, around 8 p.m. local time.
The Moon, just a day before full, occults Aldebaran Monday night for nearly everyone in North America. And watch for the Geminid meteor shower!
Friday and Saturday evenings, the thickening crescent Moon poses with bright Venus in the southwest at dusk. Wednesday marks the year's earliest sunset.
Before and during dawn Saturday morning, the thinning crescent Moon in the southeast is at the bottom of an arc that it now forms with Spica and Jupiter.
With the Moon gone from the evening sky, explore deep-sky sights in Lacerta. Or use only your eyes to see Andromeda Galaxy and the Perseus Double Cluster.
Saturn is falling ever farther away to the lower right of Venus at dusk. And in the coming weeks and months, watch Venus and Mars draw closer together.
Mars shines to the left or lower of the Moon early Saturday evening. On Tuesday, the Moon is in Aquarius - look to its left for Fomalhaut, the Autumn Star.
In twilight Friday evening, Saturn, Venus, and Antares form a nearly vertical, curving line low in the southwest. Watch the configuration change this week.
Saturn and Antares form a compact triangle with Venus, low in the southwest at dusk on Friday. The modest Orionid meteors continue before dawn Saturday.
The full Moon rises around sunset on Saturday. Almost 20° to its left are the brightest stars of Aries. Like the Moon, faint Uranus is also at opposition.
Jupiter and fainter Mercury have a close conjunction on Tuesday morning, October 11th. Look low due east about 45 minutes before your local sunrise time.
A twilight challenge: About half an hour after your local sunset time, look for Venus very low in the west-southwest through the twilight.
The "W" of Cassiopeia stands high in the northeast after dark. In the southwest at dusk, Saturn and Antares continue to pull farther to the right of Mars.
Parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia will see a penumbral lunar eclipse Friday. Eclipse or no, look for the Great Square of Pegasus to the Moon's upper left.
First-quarter Moon shines over Mars Friday evening. The triangle of Mars, Saturn, and Antares, continues to lengthen as summer nears its end.
A Friday twilight challenge: Shortly after sunset, use binoculars to look for the super-thin crescent Moon near Jupiter and Venus just above the horizon.
Venus-Jupiter conjunction on Saturday: about 20 minutes after sunset, look above the western horizon, left of where the Sun went down. Bring binoculars.
Summer is on the decline, temperatures notwithstanding: when darkness falls, Cassiopeia has now risen as high in the northeast as the Big Dipper has sunk in the northwest.
This Friday, look lower right of the waxing gibbous Moon for the ever-changing Saturn-Mars-Antares triangle. Full Moon on Wednesday night.
The crescent Moon poses with Jupiter low in the west in twilight Friday. Early next week, Mars passes 0.9° beneath Delta Scorpii, the brightest star in the head of Scorpius.
As summer goes on, Scorpius shifts westward from its high southern stance just after dark; Sagittarius moves in from the east. Prime time for Messier objects!
Starry Scorpius is sometimes called "the Orion of Summer" for its brightness, its blue-giant stars, and its 1st-magnitude red supergiant (Antares).