Bob Berman

Saturn’s Moon Titan is visible through binoculars each evening this week. It's where abundant water exists but only in the form of ice, and where pools of fluid methane add a surrealistic touch.

About a dozen new comets are discovered every year, but few ever venture close to Earth or become visually impressive. We see only one truly spectacular comet every 15 or 20 years on average. Long period comets often have extended tails that are so bright, the comet can be seen through the lights and smog of a large city. We had two in the 90’s -- Hale Bopp, and Hyakutaki, and you may have read that astronomers recently found a so-called monster comet. It should be brightest the third week of October in 2024, around a year from now. So, are we in for a treat? In truth, it could be great or it could disappoint.

But many celestial phenomena do actually merit gratitude and one is coming up next week. So happens, we’re the only planet with a major Moon that does NOT orbit around our equator. The Moon instead circles us in the same flat plane as the plane of the solar system, called the zodiac. That makes the Moon periodically meet bright planets in our sky. We can also be thankful that the only two disks in our sky, the moon and sun, both appear the same size. This is true nowhere else, and it alone creates those amazing solar eclipses.

Starting in the 1920’s, some physicists like Werner Heisenberg suggested that perhaps brains receive, manipulate, and guide awareness – by steering an arching consciousness that’s a fundamental property of the universe. This week: the consciousness of the universe.

Tune in to hear about when a predawn conjunction will take place, and hear about all the wild features of our closest planet, Venus.

Jupiter gets its closest to earth in 2023. The giant planet at one point will be the nearest object to the moon! Hear about the mass of Jupiter and its system of moons.

Saturn never gets dazzlingly bright like Venus and Jupiter and even Mars , but there’s no planet that beats it when it comes to making people gasp with amazement. But that knock-you-over view requires a telescope. Any telescope. Even an inexpensive one, using just 60 magnification. Tune in this week to learn how to locate Saturn in the sky.

Those who were in the path of the last U.S. total solar eclipse, on August 21, 2017, know the marvels that arrive with a solar totality. The experience tops the list of nature’s most awesome spectacles. But a partial solar eclipse, which is taking place on October 14, is a different ball of wax.

This is the time of year when the Milky Way splits the sky from north to south, and passes straight overhead. If you can get to the country next week, when the bright Moon will be gone, you'll see it in all its glory.

The autumnal equinox is here. It means Earth is now angled sideways to the sun. Since neither pole is tipped toward the Sun, days and nights should be equal. The main equinox event, other than declaring it the start of fall, is that the sun rises exactly in the east and sets precisely in the west, not southeast or northwest or anything else. The Sun is now more accurate than any compass.