Today:
Mercury makes its best evening showing of the year over the next ten days. Look low in the west-northwest this evening starting near 9:15 for a bright spark of light buried in the twilight, a bit more than the width of your hand, held at arm’s length, above a level horizon. Mercury will inch a little higher through the next week, but it begins to lose some of its brightness thereafter.
Thursday:
Though named for a famous hero, the constellation Hercules is a challenge. A clear evening this month will find its “keystone” or “bow-tie” shape directly between the bright star Vega, two thirds of the way up in the sky in the east near midnight, and brilliant orange-white Arcturus, high in the southwestern sky.
Friday:
The Big Dipper is beginning to drop a little into the northwestern skies from its position at the top of the sky in early June. A legend from the Seneca Tribe tells us that the bowl of the dipper is really a bear, with the closest star to the bowl a hunter with a bow and arrow. The middle star is a hunter with a cooking pot, and the third star is another hunter, gathering firewood to cook with.