Bob Berman

While childhood fears like nyctophobia—the fear of the dark—are common, even the Pleiades star cluster, traditionally linked to ominous folklore, adds to the eerie atmosphere as it rises each Halloween. But the real cosmic fright comes from science: in 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating—driven by a mysterious force called dark energy. With galaxies racing apart in an inexplicable frenzy, the universe may be headed toward a cold, empty end. Fittingly, it’s all part of the mystery in the Halloween night sky.

As autumn colors reach their peak, it's natural to wonder if the sky can show vivid hues too. Stars emit blue, red, and green light, but our eyes usually see them as white due to the mix. Cooler stars appear redder, while hotter ones lean blue, but the difference is subtle. Stars like Antares (red), Arcturus (orange), and Vega (blue-white) show noticeable color shifts. More intense colors appear when the Sun or Moon is low or during meteor showers, with green shooting stars standing out. The solar maximum has also triggered bright auroras, mostly green but occasionally red, with our eyes more sensitive to green in low light.

It can be tricky to pinpoint the spot directly overhead in the sky, but, you can find it by looking for Deneb, a bright star nearly at the zenith. While not as brilliant as nearby Vega, Deneb is one of the most luminous stars in the sky, shining with the power of 58,000 Suns from 1,500 light-years away. If it were as close as Sirius, its light would outshine our streetlights. Deneb is also significant because it lies in the direction Earth is moving as the Sun carries us around the galaxy at 144 miles per second. Though we’ll never catch it—it’s moving too—it’s still a powerful feeling to look up and point toward the future.

Saturn Made Easy: Saturn is a stunning sight through any telescope with more than 30x magnification—something photos can’t quite capture. It’s usually hard to spot, dimmer than Jupiter or Venus and less colorful than Mars, but now is the perfect time to see it. Saturn is closest to Earth and visible just below the Moon. Its famous rings, currently angled edgewise—a rare view that happens only every 15 years—appear as a straight bright line across the planet. Finding Saturn is easy: just look for the Moon.

Until the 20th century, astronomers ignored the interiors of things. They had to. Telescopes only showed outermost layers.Scientists knew that a ball's "inside" constitutes virtually all its mass, but basic questions went unanswered: What, for example, lay below the dazzling solar surface? What mysteries might be found in the core of galaxies?

If you're hearing this on Sunday, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth, and its rings appear as a straight white line due to their edge-on alignment — a rare event that occurs every 15 years during its equinox. Earth’s own equinox arrives Monday at 2:10 PM, marking the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. This equinox often falls on the 22nd or 23rd because, as Kepler explained, Earth speeds up in its orbit when closer to the sun in January and slows down in July. That means winter is shorter than summer by about a week — a fact disguised by our calendar and the uneven placement of long and short months.

This year brings a rare lunar event called the Lunar Standstill, which happens only once every 18.5 years. Due to the Moon’s wobbling orbit aligning with Earth’s tilt, the Moon is reaching extreme positions in the sky. Recently, it appeared unusually low at first quarter, the third quarter Moon stood directly overhead—something typically impossible from the continental U.S. Even in daylight, the Moon remains high and visible, especially through sunglasses, offering a striking sight in the sky.

Vega, one of the brightest stars, is often mispronounced as "VAY-ga" but should be "WEE-ga," meaning "falling eagle" in Arabic. Visible at nightfall, it shines blue overhead, contrasting with the orange Arcturus. Located 25 light-years away, it’s 58 times brighter than the sun and spins much faster, completing a rotation in just 11 hours. In 12,000 years, Vega will become Earth's pole star. It also displays a rare blueshift, pointing to the direction we're traveling in space.

This week’s half Moon will appear unusually low in the sky—so low it might be hidden behind the trees. It sits far below its usual path due to the Moon’s wobbling orbit, which currently aligns with Earth’s tilt. This rare positioning, part of a cycle called the Lunar Standstill, places the Moon near the constellation Scorpius and its bright star Antares. Its light, filtered through thick atmosphere, may appear honey-colored and cast moonbeams at odd angles into places that rarely see moonlight. Look south to see this striking celestial oddity.

Arcturus: A Star Worth Saluting: On the next clear evening around 8 p.m., look west and halfway up the sky—you’ll spot Arcturus, a bright pastel-orange star and the fourth brightest we can see from Earth. It once famously opened the 1933 Chicago World's Fair with its light and is unique among bright stars for its wild, plunging path through space. Unlike stars that circle with the Milky Way, Arcturus is just passing through—so catch a glimpse while you can. It's the brightest thing in tonight’s sky… and it won’t be there forever.