Today:
The Big Dipper has settled into the northwest skies, about one third of the way up from the horizon at 8:45 this evening. Use the handle of the Big Dipper to “arc” westward to Arcturus, a brilliant orange-white star almost the same height, but in the west. Arcturus is the brightest star in the skies this month.
Friday:
Low in the failing western twilight between 8:15 and 8:30 PM, you will find the bright, bluish-white star Spica nearing the end of its viewing for the year. Although Spica ranks just outside the top-ten brightest stars, at 250 light years away, actually outshines the Sun by 15 thousand times!
Saturday:
A bright, pale-yellow body now rises as the last of the twilight ebbs from the skies, the iconic planet Saturn. As it travels across the southern sky through the night, Saturn’s movement will be mirrored by another body rising near 10 o’clock, well below it, the star Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut ranks as the 13th brightest star we can see from our northern latitudes, but its rather low, brief appearance often goes unnoticed.