Today:
Look for the First Quarter Moon, a little more than half way above the horizon, due south at 6 o’clock this evening, which is the direction in which the First Quarter Moon always appears. Because the Moon is one “quarter” of the way through its monthly orbit around the Earth, a quarter of that circle would be half way between the western and eastern horizon.
Sunday:
Harry Potter in the sky? Looking in the southeast after 7:15 this evening, we see the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, rising. It is known as the Dog Star, and in the Harry Potter books, his god-father Sirius turns into a dog. Likewise, Sirius’s sister is Bellatrix, the star that marks the left shoulder (our right) of Orion, called the “female warrior”, and in the books she indeed fights!
Monday:
Tomorrow morning, from 6:15 to 6:45 AM, the morning twilight offers some fleeting glimpses before they all disappear with the rising Sun: The summer stars of Scorpius, the Scorpion return to the skies, first with his claws, and then a splendid encounter of the thin Crescent Moon, barely to the right of the red star Antares