Today:
As twilight now falls just a little earlier than the beginning of the month, you’ll find the skies dark enough to catch a view of the bluish-white star Spica, low in the southwest. Spica, translated as a “spike of wheat”, sits on the hips of Virgo, long associated with the harvest. In another 6 weeks, Spica becomes lost in the Sun’s glare, about the time that the harvest season begins in earnest.
Wednesday:
High in the east-northeast is the star Deneb, the tail of Cygnus, the Swan. Deneb is Arabic for “the tail”, though Arabs described this region as the “chicken”. While Deneb is less bright than the other members of the Summer Triangle – Vega overhead, and Altair much lower toward the south – it is actually thousands of times brighter, but farther away.
Thursday:
Quite prominent in the south this evening, the Waxing Gibbous Moon will appear at the base of the constellation Libra, Libra’s scales perhaps a little out of balance, since the constellation looks like it’s lying on its side. The Moon will set in the southwest at around 12.35 AM, with Libra setting a little more than an hour later.