Today:
Facing west-northwest this evening, you will note that Venus and Jupiter have drifted farther apart, with Venus well above Jupiter. To Jupiter’s right shines the slightest sliver of a crescent Moon. Below and slightly to the Moon’s right is Mercury. Above and slightly to the Moon’s right is the star Pollux, and to Pollux’s right is Castor, completing the Gemini Twins.
Wednesday:
The star Antares, the “heart” of Scorpio, the Scorpion, shines due south, only one quarter of the way above the horizon at 11:30 PM, shimmering a bright orangish-red. Antares was one of the four Royal Stars in Persian astronomy, marking the position of the Sun at the beginning of autumn thousands of years ago. You can see the head and shoulders of the Scorpion – a trio of stars – to the upper right.
Thursday:
With the Summer Solstice but three days hence, you might think that the Sun will pass directly overhead. It’s true that the Sun reaches its highest point at our latitude on the Summer Solstice, though it runs just shy of 70 degrees above the southern horizon near 1:00 PM. To see the Sun directly overhead, you would need to travel south to the line on the globe marked the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost point at which this happens on the Summer Solstice.