Today:
Low in the failing western twilight between 8:15 and 8:30 PM, you will find the bright, bluish-white star Spica nearing the end of its viewing for the year. Although Spica ranks just outside the top-ten brightest stars, at 250 light years away, actually outshines the Sun by 15 thousand times!
Saturday:
A bright, pale-yellow body now rises as the last of the twilight ebbs from the skies, the iconic planet Saturn. As it travels across the southern sky through the night, Saturn’s movement will be mirrored by another body rising near 10 o’clock, well below it, the star Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut ranks as the 13th brightest star we can see from our northern latitudes, but its rather low, brief appearance often goes unnoticed.
Sunday:
Just after 10:30 this evening, the Half Moon climbs into the east-northeast. As the Moon climbs higher in the hours after midnight, take note of the patch of faint stars struggling to be seen just above our celestial neighbor, known as the Seven Sisters, or the Pleiades. Look for them in the evenings this November, a harbinger of the coming winter.