Today:
The spacecraft New Horizons passed by Pluto and its moons on this date in 2015, sending back amazing images of a surprisingly changeable surface, covered with regions of frozen nitrogen glaciers, methane craters, and water-ice mountains, as well as a thin but extensive nitrogen-rich atmosphere.
Tuesday:
High in the east-southeast at 10:30 are three bright stars which make up the Summer Triangle. The highest and brightest is Vega, lower and to the left is Deneb, and lowest and more toward the south is Altair. Altair comes from an Arabic word meaning the “flying or soaring eagle”.
Wednesday:
As darkness fall at about 10 PM, the waxing gibbous Moon will appear in the south, with another encounter with a bright star. Last Saturday, it was Spica. Tonight it is the red star Antares’ turn, appearing to the Moon’s right. As the Moon tracks low in the south thereafter, a slightly greater separation will occur, with Antares appearing slightly more to the right of the Moon.