Today:
The star Arcturus appears around 9:00 PM, as twilight gives way to darker skies, seen about half way up in the west. It is due west at 10:30 and sets near 1:00 AM. This star owes its status as the brightest star in the summer skies because it is relatively close by at 36 light years, and it is huge, measuring 37 times the diameter of our Sun.
Tuesday:
The brightening Gibbous Moon overwhelms more and more of the fainter stars, but turning your gaze to the north reveals two patterns that can compete with the Moon’s glow – the Big Dipper, and Cassiopeia, the Queen. The more familiar Big Dipper continues to ease a bit lower into the northwest, the bottom of the Dipper about one third of the way up, while the Queen, shaped like the letter “W”, has risen to one third of the way up in the northeast.
Wednesday:
With the Summer Triangle almost overhead, look at its lowest star Altair, and then to the left of Altair. A faint, compact collection of stars may catch your eyes, the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin. It appears like a comma, but perhaps you can imagine a dolphin leaping from right to left, out of the celestial waters.