The brilliant star in the southwest to the left of Orion’s belt is Sirius, the Dog Star. As it lowers closer to the horizon, notice that as it twinkles, it flashes many colors. Its light is bending on its way through our atmosphere, giving us pin-point glimpses of its spectrum or rainbow, one color at a time.
Saturday:
The northwestern skies in the evenings are home to Capella, the Goat Star. In mythology this is the nurse goat for the great Jupiter, and was rewarded with a place in the heavens. It is half way up from the horizon in the west-northwest at 9:15 PM, well to the right of the Twin Stars in Gemini.
Sunday:
For night owls, or very early risers tomorrow morning, the southeastern skies host a wonderful view of the waning Gibbous Moon, rising just minutes before midnight, joined by the red star Antares, the “heart” of the Scorpion. They remain low in the southeast, cresting due south at 4 in the morning, and slip into the southwest as twilight brightens after 5:15 AM.