Today:
You’ll need to pair of binoculars, but just after sunset, around 8:25 PM, you might be able to catch a fleeting glimpse of Mercury, as it sets in the northwest by 8:45. If you can glimpse it, you’ll notice a nice alignment stretching between it, Venus to its upper left, and then to Jupiter, completing the string. Mercury is just starting a display that improves into early June.
Thursday:
Very high in the north, nearly overhead, the seven stars of the Big Dipper, while close to the northern horizon, with a low and level view, you find the stars of the Queen, Cassiopeia, in the form of a “W”-shaped pattern. The Big Dipper and the Queen are always opposite each other, with the North Star directly between them. Six months later, in November, they switch positions.
Friday:
Prowling the heavens about halfway up in the southwest this evening, you’ll find Leo, the Lion, emerging at about 9:30 PM. Leo is one of the horoscope signs, its traditional dates of late July into the third week of August marking when the sun was against the background of these stars 5000 years ago. This now happens one month later.