Today:
November’s Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight, but you’ll need to stay up late to see the peak, which will occur around 1:00 AM. The Leonid shower is so-called because its shooting stars give the impression of shooting outward from the constellation Leo, which appears in the northeastern sky. The shooting stars actually result from the comet Temple-Tuttle, over the next few nights.
Monday:
Early risers tomorrow morning can look for the bright and blueish-white star Spica to rise in the east-southeast at 4:00 AM. Also rising in the east-southeast, about an hour later, will be the waning sliver of a crescent Moon. Following in the same line, between 5:45 and 6 o’clock, will be Venus, visible near the horizon for a brief stint, before getting overwhelmed by the gathering dawn.
Tuesday:
Just past 8 PM, three stars will rise in the eastern sky, appearing close together and vertically aligned, to comprise Orion’s belt. These stars are much less bright than Orion’s brightest, those being Orion and Betelgeuse. But the close alignment of the belt stars makes Orion’s belt the easiest part of the constellation to identify.