Enjoy these mostly moonless nights in the week ahead. The stars and even the Milky Way are within reach, as long as the skies are clear.

Without a moon in the sky, nights do get dark. You can see the Milky Way, that ribbon of billions of stars rising in the east.  The waving ribbon starts above the horizon in the northeastern sky, rises up high into the sky and extends down to the southeast.

Use these moonless nights to find what looks like a cloud of stationary stars in the night sky. As the evening progresses the ribbon, the Milky Way gets higher and touches our zenith after 1 a.m.

A thin crescent moon will start showing up at dusk beginning next week. You may see it close to the horizon on Sunday night. It is only for a short time, before it sets.

In the coming week, the moon will appear higher and higher in the western sky.