Today:
At 10:15 this evening, the Scorpion’s tail is due south, extremely low above the horizon, yet even so, at its best viewing of the year. As the tail curls up to the left, the star on the end is called Shaula, from the Arabic meaning either “stinger” or “raised”, as in poised to sting.
Wednesday:
Saturn continues to rise a few minutes earlier each evening, starting its trek through the heavens near 10:30 PM tonight, rising in the east-southeast, quickly followed by the waning gibbous Moon to its lower left. They climb higher by midnight for better viewing, and then crest, due south early tomorrow morning near 4 o’clock, almost halfway up from the horizon.
Thursday:
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.