Today:
The Waning Gibbous Moon rises a little before 7 o’clock in the east-northeast, placed near the feet of Gemini, the Twins. Their heads climb above the horizon about an hour later. As one more hour goes by, the planet Mars makes its appearance, creating an interesting alignment of the dazzling Jupiter, well to the upper right of the Moon, and Mars, equally distant to its lower left.
Tuesday:
Vega, the brightest evening star, starts this night high in the west at 7 o’clock, and takes its time lowering through the northwest all evening, not setting until 2 o’clock tomorrow morning. Vega is bright, in part, because it is one of the closer stars to us, some 26 light years away, as well as cranking out 37 times as much light as our Sun.
Wednesday:
Late this evening, the waning Gibbous Moon, one day from its Last Quarter, works its way above the east-northeast horizon in the company of Mars to its upper right, somewhat subdued by the Moon’s glare. You’ll find the pair one third of the way up, due east, at midnight, progressing past due south near 5 o’clock, and still quite high in the southwest as the blush of morning twilight grows near 6 o’clock.