Late tonight there is a pairing up of the gibbous moon and Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet. The two will rise in the east together before 11 p.m. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Gemini.

By midnight, Jupiter and the moon will be high in the east. By dawn tomorrow morning, they will be high in the west.

Tomorrow night offers another view, however the moon is slowly moving east and the two will be farther apart. On Sunday night, the moon is in the last quarter phase and not far from the red planet Mars.    

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the moon and Mars are side by side. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Leo.

Halloween Planet

On the night when witches and ghosts rule the streets, the brightest planet in the southwestern sky is Venus. Venus appears above the treeline right after sunset and stays visible for as much as two hours. Venus is slowly moving through Scorpius, one of the two southern most zodiacal constellations.

Venus is about the same size as Earth. It appears brighter than all the other planets in the solar system not only because it is so close to us but also because it has an atmosphere covered by clouds and those clouds are highly reflective of sunlight.

Venus is 62 million miles away this week and getting closer. The Sun is 93 million miles away.