Today:
The nearly Full Moon again bathes the skies in moonlight, subdued by its extremely low position in the south. This leaves the northwestern skies a bit darker, certainly enough so to find the outline of Leo, the Lion, preparing to exit the heavens in a few more weeks. You’ll also find the brilliant Venus to the right of Leo’s brightest star, Regulus. The two pass close to each other next week.
Thursday:
Looking in the south and southwest near 10 o’clock, while the waning Gibbous Moon remains below the horizon, the red star Antares shows up easily in the south, while the contrastingly bluish star Spica settles into the southwest. Between them, about one third of the way up from the horizon, to moderately bright stars mark the balance beam within the constellation Libra, the Scales.
Friday:
At 4 o’clock tomorrow morning, a little early for 4th of July celebrations, dedicated star gazers can celebrate the planet Mars sitting between the cluster of stars above known as the Pleiades, and the reddish star Aldebaran, below our reddish neighboring planet. To the Haudenosaunee, the Pleiades are called the Seven Starry dancers, while in Japan, they are known as Subaru.