Today:
Due east at 6:30 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:
As New Year’s Eve revelers welcome the start of 2026, the brightest star in the night skies is due south nea midnight, known as Sirius, or the Dog Star, the brightest star in Canis Major, the Great Dog. It won’t be hard to find, one-third of the way above the southern horizon, with Orion to its upper right.
Thursday:
The New Year opens under the glow of moonlight from a nearly Full Moon, emerging from the twilight this evening just to the right of El Nath, the star that marks the tip of one of the horns of Taurus, the Bull, whose red eye gleams as the red star Aldebaran, well to the right of the Moon.