Today:
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.
Wednesday:
Venus has progressed nicely in the southwest, edging higher and therefore visible in the darker part of the evening skies. Accompanying Venus, well to its left sparkles the less-well known star Fomalhaut, and directly above it shines Saturn. As Venus edges higher, Saturn slips lower, foreshadowing their meeting next month in January.