As the leaves begin to redden this month, the sky offers up a few of its own ruby features.

Blazing hot Mercury displays some of its best views of 2014, while Scorpio's red star, Antares, meets up with the red planet Mars toward the end of the month.

These three celestial objects have much different reasons behind their respective reddish hues.

Antares, one of the largest and brightest observable stars, is a red supergiant in Scorpio. Its position in the constellation gives it the nickname "heart of the scorpion." Placed where our sun is, Antares's surface would extend past the orbit of Mars. Antares is red because it is dying. Red stars are the least hot of all stars.

Despite its searing surface temperatures, it's a bit of a stretch to say that Mercury looks red. The planet has a barren surface much like the moon's and generally appears white to an Earthbound observer, but its low height above our horizon gives it a pinkish hue - for the same reason that the sun appears reddish at sunrise or sunset.

For Northern Hemisphere observers, Mercury is best viewed on March and April evenings and September and October mornings. During its morning appearances this month and next, the planet will be in the east since its orbit hugs the sun. Look toward the east about 45 minutes before sunrise.

Mars is known as the red planet, and one glance reveals why. Its surface is covered with iron oxide (rust), and that rusty glow is Mars's most distinguishing feature when viewed with the naked eye.

Look low along the southwestern horizon at nightfall Sept. 12 to see Mars hovering directly between Saturn and Antares. Both planets are heading eastward toward the star. Mars meets Antares on Sept. 27 when the planet passes just three degrees north of the star.

It's not red, but a potential bonus sight this month, if you can find a very dark sky, is the zodiacal light, or "false dawn." This tilted triangle of light is thought to be caused by sunlight reflecting off comet dust and extends from the horizon to about 30 degrees up from where the sun will rise, or where it just set depending on the season and hemisphere.

The zodiacal light is ever-present, but it's easier to see when the ecliptic is nearly vertical to the horizon, which is what happens during both equinoxes. The light is visible for us during September and October in the east before dawn and during February and March in the west after twilight.

localuniverse@msn.com

SKY CALENDAR

Sept. 9: Full moon.

Sept. 23: September Equinox. We know it as the first day of fall. The sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. For our counterparts in Australia and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere it's the first day of spring.

Sept. 24: New moon.