The best evidence of seasonal change isn't only in the weather and occasional drop with the temperature, it is in the night sky. Go outside late and you are under a canopy of autumn. Late Monday night step out and look for the moon. The Last Quarter moon is in the zodiiacal constellation Taurus, the Bull, a constellation we associate with fall and winter. The moon is right next to the large star cluster Pleiades. Now that is a sign of autumn in the air.

The length of night has certainly increased. We've got more time to stargaze. Only a month ago, you had to wait until after 9 p.m. for the stars to come out. They are now starting to show up almost an hour earlier. Sunset is now so much earlier.

Northern Lights

The sun continues to be active this summer and we've had more opportunities to see Northern Lights. While we haven't seen any yet this summer, we are seeing postings of beautiful color photographs from experienced photographers on Nantucket and Cape Cod. There is no reason we can't see the same as them. The hardest part is knowing when to look, or even better just being outside in the evening and keeping a keen eye on the skies.

There is no difficult prescription to seeing them. They always appear in the North, and anywhere in the North. We've seen Northern Lights from the Vineyard in all the right places. The sky overhead has to be relatively clear and there should be no nearby lights to distract your search. Look to the northwest and you'll likely see some of the city lights from New Bedford and Fairhaven, to the North, maybe Hyannis. But anything can happen above that. Let us know if you see them.