Starry Night This Week

Each week most PBS stations air "Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer", the world's first and only weekly TV series on naked-eye astronomy. The Starry Night images on this page illustrate the show for the week of Monday September 1, 2003. You can view the complete show script, or watch a RealPlayer video of the show.

Shine On, Shine On Harvest Moon... Up Over Mars!

On the night of September 10th, skywatchers are greeted by the 'Harvest Moon' - the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Mars is still bright in the sky - compare its colour and brightness with Antares, in the constellation of Scoupius the 'Scorpio'. Antares translates into the 'rival of Mars' because both objects often share the same colour and brightness. Mars however is much brighter now. This view shows the sky at 9:00 PM, as seen from mid-northern latitudes.