Today:
The “Winter Diamond” of four dazzling stars sits in the southeast this evening, featuring Betelgeuse at the top, its orange hue due to its tremendous size causing it to cool. The lowest star is the brightest, Sirius, the Dog Star. The other dog star, Procyon, appears on the left, while Orion’s foot, Rigel, gleams brilliantly to the right of Orion’s Belt.
Sunday:
Glowing brightly within the collection of Winter’s brightest stars, the waxing Gibbous Moon finds itself halfway up in the east at 7:30 PM, surrounded by Capella, high above, Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, the Bull, well right, while the even brighter Betelgeuse sits on Orion’s shoulder to the lower right. Finally, the Twins of Gemini await the Moon’s company to the lower left.
Monday:
As twilight fades to black after 5:30 this evening, the Full “Wolf” Moon enjoys one of its most intriguing encounters of the year, passing right between the Earth and Mars. Mars appears just to the lower left of the Moon to start, then as the pair rise higher, Mars disappears near 9:25 as the Moon’s orbit takes our neighbor to the lower left. Mars reappears near 10:40 on the upper right of the Moon.