Today:
The brilliant bluish-white star Vega, appearing one quarter of the way above the northwest horizon as darkness settled in by 5:30 PM, does an interesting thing for the next month or so. It will set tonight about 8:15 PM far to the north. But it will rise again 5 hours later at 1:10 AM, climbing into the northeast.
Tuesday:
While Orion’s Belt stands out as it rises higher into the southeast during the evenings, more impressive might be the stars themselves. Each of these stars is a stellar powerhouse, the two outer stars more than 100 thousand times brighter than our Sun, and the middle star perhaps 500 thousand times brighter!
Wednesday:
Due east at 8:10 this evening, about half-way up from the horizon, the twin stars of Gemini mark the heads of Castor, above, and Pollux, below. The twins have a rich collection of mythology, often as sons of Leda, but having different fathers – Zeus and Tyndareus. Strange? Well, just remember it’s a myth.