Today:
If you’re up at midnight tonight, you can view quite a jubilee of bright bodies in the east-northeast. This will center upon the Waning Gibbous Moon, surrounded by Capella to its top left, Aldebaran to it top right, Betelgeuse to it lower right, and the just-risen Jupiter, which appears below and to the Moon’s left.
Sunday:
When Columbus landed in the Bahamas on this date in 1492, he used the North Star to determine his location. However, he mistakenly used the star Alderamin in Cepheus, and thought he landed near what is now Boston. Either tropical breezes, or an able assistant, helped him to correct his error.
Monday:
Ursa Major, better known as the Great Bear, is settling very low along the northern horizon during the evenings, before rising back into the north-northeast after 10 o’clock. Best known here something contained within the Bear, that being the asterism called the Big Dipper, with the “bowl” of the Dipper part of the Bear’s body, and the “handle” his long, bushy tail.