For a sign of autumn in the night sky look at next week’s full moon. Monday night’s harvest moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Pisces. The full moon is close to the astronomical equator. Just as the sun will cross the equator later this month on the first day of fall, so too the full moon appears close to the equator.

Autumn arrives on Monday at 11:44 a.m. Though the temperatures this past week are more like summer than fall, there is plenty of evidence of a change. The day is split almost equally between daytime and night time.

A thin crescent moon appears close to the ringed planet Saturn low in the southeastern sky prior to sunrise tomorrow morning. Early morning risers will likely spot the two.

A thin crescent moon appears low in the southwestern sky tonight, not far from the bright planet Venus. Venus is in the zodiacal constellation Libra and the moon is in Scorpius.

Tonight’s gibbous moon hovers in the southeastern sky early in the evening. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus. Farther south and slightly to the west there is the bright planet Jupiter.

The last quarter moon will interfere with observing the Orionid meteor shower on Tuesday morning, but there may be a few to be seen before moonrise. Meteors, often referred to as shooting stars, will appear to come from the rising constellation Orion, which is low in the southeast late at night.

The bright planet Venus hangs low in the southwestern sky tonight. Venus has appeared nightly in the southwest for weeks now but the show improves. Venus is moving farther from the glare of the setting sun and is easier to spot in darker skies.

Show time is tonight and it continues through Monday night. The thin crescent moon passes by two planets in the nights ahead.

The week ahead offers perfect moonless nights. There is a New Moon on Thanksgiving, so for the coming week the moon resides only in the early morning sky.

The performance of the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter drew a lot of attention on Monday night. The three celestial objects formed a perfect triangle, close together, high in the western sky after sunset. Anyone outside couldn’t miss the show as it lasted until all three set in the west. Venus is brighter than Jupiter.