■ Saturn shines lower left of the Moon at dusk, as shown below. As the evening grows late and they rise higher, Saturn will slowly shift to the left of the Moon. It will be directly left of the Moon by about midnight.

Saturn is a little past its opposition now, so the Moon shining with it is a little before its own opposition (full Moon). This is always how it goes with the Moon and its background stars and planets.

■ This is the time of year when the Big Dipper lies down horizontal low in the north-northwest after dark. And the farther south you are the lower it is. Seen from latitude 40° north (New York, Denver) even its bottom stars twinkle nearly ten degrees high. But at Miami (26° N) the entire Dipper will skim along out of sight just below the northern horizon.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24

■ Catch Saturn glowing to the right of the nearly full Moon this evening, as shown above.

■ And before dawn, Mars, Jupiter and Regulus are still in a straight line as shown below.…