Today:
The planet Saturn continues to rise a few minutes earlier each evening, well placed for viewing by 9:30 or so this evening, in the southeast. Over the next several weeks, Saturn becomes your guide to finding one of the brighter stars in the heavens, but viturally unknown. Below Saturn, low above the southern horizon shines Fomalhaut, the brightest star in Pisces Austrinus, or the Southern Fish.
Thursday:
The Moon rises about an hour before sunset this evening, and reaches its moment of being exactly Full as it sets very close to sunrise tomorrow morning. This is the first of three days in which the Moon appears full, and remains in the sky all night long. This timing earned it the name, the “Harvest Moon”, offering light for harvesting right through the night.
Friday:
The Moon is Full each month as it reaches a position exactly opposite the Sun, so tonight’s Full “Harvest” Moon rises as the Sun sets, and then sets as the Sun rises tomorrow morning. This timing can vary due to the Moon’s tilted orbit, about 5 degrees compared to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.