Tonight the gibbous moon appears high in the evening sky soon after sunset. In the nights ahead, the moon dominates the evening sky while it moves through the constellations of late summer. The full harvest moon is Wednesday, Sept. 18.

The moon earns its name from the fact that it is a full moon closest to the first day of autumn, on Sunday, Sept. 22.

The harvest moon always resides in the zodiacal constellation Pisces. It is evenly placed in the evening sky, rising in the east at sunset and setting in the west at dawn.

The two brightest planets in the western sky are now close together. Venus appears under the fainter planet Saturn. Other than the moon, Venus is the brightest planet in our sky. It looks like a beacon, a fair distance above the western horizon after sunset. The ringed planet Saturn is significantly fainter than Venus, but still bright, and above Venus.

In the days ahead, Saturn will appear lower  and lower and eventually pass Venus. By the end of September, Saturn will be too close to the horizon to spot.

Astronomers estimate Saturn is 930 million miles away.

August was a dry month. Total rainfall was 2.34 inches, well below the monthly average of 4.43 inches. There were 14 days in the month with measurable rain.