Today:
On the next clear night, it should be quite easy to find the brightest star – the North Star, right? No! As you scan the skies, tonight our brightest star emerges from the twilight in the southeast near 6:00 PM, and will be due south at 9:20 PM. You are watching Sirius, known commonly as the “Dog Star”, relatively close to us at only 8.6 light years away.
Monday:
Night owls can see the Moon, just one day past its Last Quarter, rise in the southeast near 2:15 AM tomorrow. Just to its lower left will rise the red star Antares, rising at about 2:50 AM, and the brightest star within the constellation Scorpius. The two will ride low through the sky during the predawn hours, before fading into the twlight, one quarter of the way up and due south, at 6:40 AM.
Tuesday:
Facing south at around 7:40 reveals a host of bright objects along or near the ecliptic. In the east appears the star Regulus, within the constellation Leo. High in sky and to the southeast appears Jupiter, neslted within the constellation Gemini. Just west of south appears the orange-red star Aldebaran. Much farther to the west, nearly to the horizon, is the seemingly lonely Saturn.