Today:
Late this evening, near 10:30, lowering toward the northwestern horizon shines a sparkling, flashing object, with random flares of green, or red, or blue. No, it is not a UFO, but the bright star Capella. Bright stars, when they are near the horizon, have their light bent by the atmosphere, much like light going through a crystal or prism.
Thursday:
The Big Dipper is high overhead in May. The middle star of the three stars on the handle, Mizar, appears as a “double star”. The brighter star is joined by a fainter companion, Alcor, known to the Arabs as the “horse and rider”, and was used as an eye test….try it!
Friday:
Gemini, the Twins, are standing on the horizon between west and northwest this evening, Castor on the right and Pollux on the left. It was near the feet of Castor, the name of the brother as well as the star, that in 1781 Sir William Herschel discovered a new planet – the one we now call Uranus.