If you are looking for a Christmas star, you will not be disappointed. There are at least two planets low in the western sky this coming week, masquerading as stars. The brightest Venus is underneath the planet Mercury. They set early in the evening, set in the twilight.

The two planets are tough to spot so timing and a clear western horizon are essential.

Winter arrives on Wednesday at 4:48 p.m. There is not a day in the year here with less sunlight. The weather in the last two months has certainly pointed us to this day. The temperatures is already seasonally colder than we are used to in recent years. And we've already seen snow.

Take a step outside tonight to enjoy this astronomical event, as well as a likely meteorological night.

The year's best meteor shower takes place Tuesday night. The Geminid meteor shower is the most productive. You'll see far more meteors than the most popular meteor shower, the Perseid Meteor Shower. The best time this year will be before 10 p.m., when the waning gibbous moon rises in the east. It is a bright moon so it is very likely you'll miss a good part of the show later in the evening.

On Wednesday night the brilliant full moon appears right next to the bright planet Mars. The two are so close you may have trouble seeing Mars.

At 11:08 p.m. that evening Mars gets within one degree of the moon. Through a telescope, the sight is easier. The moon appears to skim along side of Mars without covering it.

However, in other parts of the country and world, the moon will overlap the distant planet. Mars will appear to be extinguished.

No matter the time you look Wednesday night, you've got a sight to see.

The ringed-planet Saturn appears low in the southwestern sky after sunset. The planet once commanded much of the attention during summer, appearing in the southern sky. With the advancement of the seasons Saturn's time in our sky is significantly shortened. Now the planet hangs in our evening sky for an hour or so. Saturn is being upstaged by the prominence of Jupiter farther to the east. Jupiter is the brighter. And the red planet Mars now appears above the horizon a short time afterwards.

The bright red planet Mars now shines low in the eastern sky. You can see it easily an hour or more after sunset. It glows as a red jewel and there is no missing it. Take a moment to go outside and look for it. The planet resides in the constellation Taurus, the mythological bull. Not far away, you'll find the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters. The small star cluster is always a night time crowd pleaser.Not far from Mars is the orange colored bright star Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus. With Mars in this beloved constellation, the stars and the planet look particularly intriguing.

A bright gibbous moon appears underneath the red planet Mars tonight. Mars is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus, a constellation we associate with winter. The moon is edging towards the zodiacal constellation Gemini.

A total lunar eclipse will take place in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The eclipse will be watched across the country and as far west as Hawaii and coincides with Election Day, a day for voting. This is when the full moon, the Bay Scallop Moon, slips into the earth's shadow.

The first evidence of the eclipse will take place at 4:08 a.m. The moon will start to move through the darkest part of the Earth's shadow, the Umbra.

On Halloween night, while goblins and witches roam the countryside, the bright moon will light their way. The moon is first quarter the following day. But on Halloween the moon will be fairly high in the southern sky. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus, not far from the bright planet Saturn to the east. Use this moon as a reference when walking along with those wandering outside. Capricornus is a mythological horned goat. Inaddition there are old stories of the constellation depicting a sea goat.

With clear skies viewers tonight have a terrific view of the stars of autumn and maybe a shooting star.