Today:
The Moon delays its rising until 10:30 PM, when it closely follows the orange-red star Antares into the southeastern skies. The Moon’s true motion toward the east is much slower than our daily rotation, so it does rise, though its separation from Antares slowly increases through the night. They track very low in the south, due south at 2:40 AM tomorrow morning.
Monday:
The centerpiece of the southern sky in the winter, Orion, is almost gone for the summer. His shoulder star Betelgeuse is briefly visible in the west, emerging from the twilight between 8:30 and 9:00 PM, before setting by 10:30 PM. The smaller of his hunting dogs, Canis Minor, remains a little higher up, it’s bright star Procyon appearing above and to left of Betelgeuse, and below and the left of Jupiter.
Tuesday:
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks tonight, but with considerable interference from the Moon. Best seen after midnight, this will feature up to 15 meteors or “shooting stars” per hour, in the southeast. These cosmic pebbles that burn up upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere are actually the debris from Halley’s Comet, not returning until 2061.