Just after midnight tonight, the last quarter moon appears close to the bright star Aldebaran. The astronomical significance isn’t that important, other than it shows us autumn is not that far away. Aldebaran is the principal star in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, a constellation we associate with fall and winter.

 

The stars of night are shifting. You can see it easily if you venture outside and look up. Summer stars are still high above after sunset. The planet Jupiter is in the south and southwest.

But big changes come as you look later in the evening. The stars of winter appear within reach if you venture outside and look after midnight.

 

The planets Venus and Mars are still not visible. Both are somewhere behind the sun, as far from the Earth as they get. Mars is 248 million miles and Venus is 158 million miles away. For comparison, the sun is only 93 million miles away.