Today:
This evening finds the Waxing Gibbous Moon trying to tip the scales of Libra. Looking on from the southeast is the red star Antares, within the constellation Scorpius. The two leftmost stars within Libra were once considered part neighboring Scorpius: Zubeneschamali, the Northern Claw, is the upper star; the lower one is Zubenelgenubi, the Southern Claw.
Monday:
Having moved on from Spica a few days before, the Moon is now nearly full, and is nearing Antares, a bright red star that will appear to the left, a slight below the brilliant Moon. Known as the heart of its surrounding constellation, Scorpius, Antares appears bright, even at a distance of 550 light years, because its diameter is roughly 700 times that of our sun.
Tuesday:
While the nearly Full Moon bathes the night in moonlight from its path, very low over the southern horizon, look in the opposite direction, toward the north, for a curious object, even closer to the horizon. The star Capella, among the brightest stellar luminaries in the heavens, appears low in the north-northwest as twilight ends near 10 o’clock. The spin of the Earth swings it to due north, on the horizon, at 1 AM, and then edges up to a mirrored position in the north-northeast as twilight returns near 3:30 AM.