Today:
Today is May Day, and is known in the Celtic tradition as Beltane, marking the traditional half-way point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. These mid-points of the seasons are called “cross-quarter days”, as they are exactly between the “quarter days”, marking the beginning of each season. Typically, this celebration was tied to the Full Moon, which coincidently shines tonight as the Full “Flower” Moon.
Saturday:
Venus, the brightest nighttime object other than the Moon, continues to appear a little higher in the west as twilight fades. The other two brightest objects are Jupiter, much higher, and the star Sirius, lowering toward the southwest horizon. This trio forms an enormous triangle emerges near 8:45 PM, lowering in the darkening skies over the next hour, when Sirius gets ready to set.
Sunday:
The Moon delays its rising until 10:30 PM, when it closely follows the orange-red star Antares into the southeastern skies. The Moon’s true motion toward the east is much slower than our daily rotation, so it does rise, though its separation from Antares slowly increases through the night. They track very low in the south, due south at 2:40 AM tomorrow morning.