Today:
The star Spica, due south at around 10 o’clock, will help guide you to the stars of Corvus, the Crow. Well to the lower right of Spica, look for an odd shaped “box” of stars. The lower left star is the tail of the Crow, while the three other stars form his head, flanked by out-stretched wings.
Monday:
The Big Dipper is high overhead in May. The middle star of the three stars on the handle, Mizar, appears as a “double star”. The brighter star is joined by a fainter companion, Alcor, known to the Arabs as the “horse and rider”, and was used as an eye test….try it!
Tuesday:
A large, waxing Gibbous Moon pays a visit to the bluish-white beacon Spica as it emerges from the twilight in the south, between 8:45 and 9:00 this evening. They two will set in the west-southwest in the early morning, the Moon a few minutes before 3:00 AM, and Spica a few minutes after. By tomorrow evening, the Moon’s orbit takes it below and to the left of Spica.