Use the bright waxing gibbous moon to find the red planet Mars in late October 2020. This is the brightest that you'll see Mars for another 15 years!

Look east after sunset - or west before sunrise - for Earth's shadow. It's a deep blue-grey band, curved as Earth is curved, moving opposite the sun. The Belt of Venus is the subtle pink band above the shadow.

These next several evenings - October 21, 22 and 23, 2020 - watch for the waxing moon to sweep by the gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Orionid meteor shower will peak around mid-week, with the best morning likely being Wednesday, October 21.

You might or might not see the moon on October 17, 2020. But you'll more easily catch it on October 18, 19 or 20. Look west after sunset!

October 16 brings us the closest new moon of 2020. Some will call it a supermoon. You won't see this extra-close new moon because it'll travel across the daytime sky with the sun. But you might see its gravitational effect on the tides along ocean shorelines in the days following new moon.

The coming weeks are great for catching the zodiacal light or false dawn from northerly latitudes? Southern Hemisphere? Look for the false dusk.

Earth passes between Mars and the sun, at opposition, on October 13, 2020, yet the Earth and Mars actually come closest together on October 6, 2020.

Watch for the moon, Venus and the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion, as they beautify the eastern sky before sunup on October 12, 13, 14 and 15, 2020!

Last quarter moon comes on October 10. That morning, the moon will be in front of Gemini the Twins. The next morning - October 11 - the moon will be in front of Cancer the Crab.