Exciting evening sky

My computer conspired against me yesterday. It ran so slowly I could barely use it - very frustrating when you just want to quickly put in a comment on Facebook! Then when I did manage to post a comment, it disappeared and I don't know where it is now - out in the ether, I suppose! Facebook suddenly updated with posts from half a day ago and to top it all, my anti-virus did an update which took five hours, so I just went to bed and read a book. However, what I was really trying to do was Google to find out what the stars above the moon were! I couldn't find any books that told me and we are so reliant on being able to find out anything instantly on our computers - talk about the world being at your fingertips - that sometimes the written word seems too slow.

I thought they must be Saturn and Mercury, which would explain why they weren't on any charts, and Venus was higher up - the asterism was too beautiful - tiny crescent moon with Saturn above Mercury below and Venus, the brightest planet in the sky, higher up. The computer is working again this morning and I could confirm all this, but it was too late to send out a message to alert anyone interested to dash outside and take a look. Frustrating for me, but doubtless of little consequence for those who don't ever look up! I always feel compelled to share these exciting events. As an added bonus, the bright red heart of the scorpion, Antares, is above Venus, making the evening horizon quite spectacular.

The good news is you can see it again on Tuesday 8 October just after sunset. The diagram below illustrates how we can see Mercury and Saturn despite their orbits being so different.