The Memorial Day weekend serves as an unofficial kick-off to summer, and the stars are doing their part. One of summer’s quintessential constellations is Scorpio, the Scorpion. The star Antares, regarded as the heart of the Scorpion, is rising in the twilight, and is due south at 1:00 AM EDT.
Sunday:
One of the summer’s brightest stars, Antares, crests due south near 1 o’clock, marking the “heart” of the Scorpion, but also leading the Milky Way back up into the eastern skies. Look to the left of Antares, where the band of faint light belonging to our galaxy, the Milky Way, has reached more that halfway up in the east, highlighted by the stars of the Summer Triangle.
Monday:
Stretched through the east and southeast near 10 o’clock, the brilliant stars Arcturus, two-thirds of the way up in the southeast, and Vega, well to its lower left, and one third of the way above the eastern horizon, help you to locate a faint semi-circle of stars between them, the Northern Crown, closer to Arcturus.