Today:
As viewable at sunset, and slightly to left of due west, Regulus has drawn extremely close to Mars, appearing to the lower left of Mars, the separated by less 1 degree. Tomorrow the position of Regulus will have shifted to the lower right of Mars, but by a similarly slim margin. By the 18th, the two will begin a parting of ways, although quite gradually at first.
Tuesday:
All night, every night, the North Star is right where it always is – half way up, due north. Many are surprised that the North Star is not the brightest star in the heavens. Rather than its brightness, Polaris’s location directly above the Earth’s North Pole makes this the Pole Star. As the Earth spins on its axis, this star remains fixed in the same place, while the rest of the skies appear to pivot around it.
Wednesday:
With the Summer Solstice but two days hence, you might think that the Sun will come directly overhead. It’s true that the Sun reaches its highest point at our latitude on the Summer Solstice, when it will be just shy of 70 degrees above the southern horizon near 1:00 PM. But to see the Sun directly overhead, you would need to travel south to the line on the globe marked the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost point at which this happens on the Summer Solstice.