Today:
Today is St. John’s Day – Midsummer’s Day in ancient traditions. One of the features of the summer skies is a trio of bright stars known as the Summer Triangle. Look in the east after 10 o’clock, where the brightest and highest of the three stars, Vega, is shining. Nearest the horizon is Altair, while the third star is found to the left, known as Deneb.
Thursday:
Planets will rise in the east tonight, but you’ll need to stay up late or get up early to see them. Saturn will rise almost due east at 1:15 AM, appearing in between the constellations Pisces and Cetus. By 3:15 Saturn will still be fairly low in the east-southeast. By then Mars will be rising in the east-northeast, already competing with the first glow of the dawn by 4:00 AM.
Friday:
Just as full darkness settles in by 10 o’clock, look due north and half way up in the sky to find Polaris, the North Star. Now look above it, and slightly to the left, where a pair of medium bright stars represent “north stars” from a bygone era. The brighter of the two is Kochab, the lesser Pherkad, together called the “guardians of the Pole Star