Venus is slowly progressing to maximum eastern elongation which will occur on November 6 th when Venus will lay 47.13 east of the Sun. On the night of the star party this angular distance will be just 17.5. The opposition of Pluto occurred on May 26, so the opportunity to find the faint planet is still very good. Last month I pointed out a trapezoid of stars near 18 Sco. Rogers is asking for images and observation of this event.
All times are Mountain Daylight Time.
The Moon should not interfere with any of these observations. Europa usually shines at magnitude 5.3. During this four minute eclipse, we should witness Europa's brightness dim quite noticeably. Those arriving early for the star party at A.I. may want to find the crescent Moon soon after sunset. This will not be a challenging observation as the Moon will be nearly three days old on the night of the 7 th .