Sunday night’s first quarter moon appears close and to the west of the bright planet Saturn. You’ll see them fairly low in the southern sky. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius. The moon and Saturn appear even closer on Monday night, while at this time the moon is to the east of the Saturn. Saturn is 892 million miles away, while the moon is only a quarter million miles away.

On Wednesday night the gibbous moon appears above the bright red planet Mars. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus. Take note of Mars and notice that it isn’t as bright as it was just a month ago. Mars is fading quickly. Mars was 35 million miles away in early August. It is now 46 million miles away and getting farther.