Today:
On Thanksgiving, as we celebrate the harvest and the riches of the soil, look along the northern horizon, where a low and level view shows the Big Dipper. In the British Isles, it is imagined as a plough, with the bowl of the Dipper forming the blade, almost appearing to turn over the ground along the northern horizon.
Friday:
The waxing Gibbous Moon offers the first of two nights in the company of the giant planet Jupiter. As the last of the twilight ebbs from the western skies, you’ll find the Moon to the upper right of Jupiter, close to due east, but sliding to the south through the evening. Tomorrow night, the Moon’s orbit shifts it to Jupiter’s left.
Saturday:
The Moon is still a few days from being Full, though it certainly brightens the evening skies, subduing most stars, but not the dazzling Jupiter to the Moon’s right. Jupiter, of course, is no stranger to moons, having an astounding entourage of 95 confirmed moons, though only 8 of them have regular orbits, including the 4 large Galilean moons discovered in 1610 by Galileo, using a telescope.