Today:
Look for the First Quarter Moon more than one third of the way above the horizon, due south at 6 o’clock this evening, which is the direction in which the First Quarter Moon always appears. Because the Moon is one “quarter” of the way through its monthly orbit around the Earth, a quarter of that circle would be half way between the western and eastern horizon. The moderately bright star to the right of the Moon is no star, but the planet Saturn, home to 146 moons of its own!
Monday:
Mars continues to arrive a little ealier in our evening skies, rising by 7:30, but easier to view in the east-northeast by 9 o’clock. A curious patch of stars is hidden by Mars’ brightening salmon-pink color, a very faint star cluster called the Beehive. A pair of binoculars or a spotting scope will bring them into view as a “swarm” of numerous faint stars.
Tuesday:
Due east at 7:45 PM EST, two thirds up in the sky is the star Algol, which is Arabic for the “evil one”. Ancient people considered the star evil because it was not always the same brightness. Since stars were part of heaven and therefore perfect, any star not perfect was evil. Modern tele-scopes show it is really two stars, one bright, and one dim that occasionally blocks the light of the brighter star.