The week of September 28 to October 4 is the changeover from the bright Harvest Moon to dark evening skies, and it ends with Saturn at its best for the year. Each night the Moon rises about an hour later and loses a slice of light, so evening observing improves day by day; by the weekend the sky is moonless until midnight. Times below are for Dallas in Central Time, and every page linked here adjusts them to your own city.

The Moon: waning, and rising later each night

  • Monday, September 28: 95% lit, rising at 8:17 PM. Still bright enough to cast shadows.
  • Wednesday, September 30: 81% lit, rising at 9:44 PM. The first two hours after dusk are now dark.
  • Friday, October 2: 60% lit, rising at 11:45 PM.
  • Saturday, October 3: last quarter at 8:25 AM. The half Moon rises at 12:54 AM Sunday morning and hangs in the morning sky.
  • Sunday, October 4: 37% lit, rising at 12:54 AM.

A waning gibbous Moon is the one most people never look at, because it rises after bedtime. If you are up late, it is worth a glance with binoculars: the terminator, the line between day and night on the Moon, now runs down the western side, lighting craters from the opposite direction to the familiar evening views. Our moon phase page has the exact rise and set for your location every night.

Saturn: opposition on Sunday

Saturn reaches opposition on October 4 at 9:04 AM Central Time, so the nights of Saturday and Sunday are its peak. At magnitude 0.6 it rivals the brightest stars and it is up all night: rising in the east at sunset, 52 degrees high in the south-east by midnight, and still 9 degrees up in the west at dawn. The rings are tilted about 7 degrees toward us this year, open enough for the Cassini Division to show in a 4-inch telescope on a steady night, a welcome change after the edge-on view of 2025. Any night this week works; the full guide to Saturn’s opposition has the timings for your city.

Neptune, still beside Saturn

Neptune was at opposition on September 26 and remains at its best. It sits about 9 degrees west of Saturn in Pisces, roughly a fist-width at arm’s length, and reaches 54 degrees high in the south-east around midnight from Dallas. At magnitude 7.8 it needs binoculars to spot and a telescope to show as a small blue-grey disc. Use Saturn as the signpost; it is the only bright object in that region.

Uranus, the easier ice giant

Uranus rises in the evening and climbs to 62 degrees in the west by dawn. At magnitude 5.6 it is within reach of binoculars from a dark site, and it will reach its own opposition on November 25. This week is a good rehearsal for finding it: it sits in Taurus a few degrees below the Pleiades, well east of Saturn.

Evening twilight: Venus and Mercury on the way out and in

Venus is still brilliant at magnitude -4.5, but it is only about 5 degrees above the south-western horizon at dusk and sets soon after. It is heading for inferior conjunction on October 24, when it passes between Earth and the Sun, so each evening it sinks a little lower. If you want a last look at the evening star before it switches to the morning sky in November, this week is close to the end. Mercury is also low in the west after sunset at magnitude -0.1, about 5 degrees up, on its way to greatest elongation on October 12; you need a flat horizon and binoculars to catch it in the glow.

Morning sky: Mars and Jupiter

The pre-dawn sky belongs to the two bright planets. Jupiter blazes at magnitude -1.9, 42 degrees high in the east before sunrise, and Mars sits above it at 59 degrees, fainter at magnitude 1.1 with its distinctive orange colour. Dawn breaks around 6:56 AM, so 5 to 6 AM is the window. The waning Moon joins them next week, passing Mars on the morning of October 5 and Jupiter on October 6.

Looking ahead

Mark Thursday, October 8, for the Draconid meteor shower. It is a minor shower, up to about 10 meteors an hour, but this year the Moon is a 4% crescent that stays out of the way, and unlike most showers it peaks in the evening rather than before dawn. Details on the Draconids 2026 page, and the rest of the month is on our events calendar.