Today:
Arcturus, the brightest star in the evening skies, still close to due west, one quarter of the way up as twilight ends, setting earlier each evening, and heads below the west-northwest horizon at 9:30 PM EDT. Arcturus owes its brilliance to its relatively close position, about 37 light years away, while it sends out 170 times more light than our Sun.
Thursday:
October offers our best view of a bright but rarely noticed star in the south. Look low in the south-southeast near 8:00 PM for a rather bright star, known to astronomers as Fomalhaut, reaching due south near 10:50 PM. The name originates from Arabic for the “mouth of the fish”, part of the constellation, the Southern Fish.
Friday:
Just as the clock strikes midnight, a Last Quarter Moon arrives in the northeast, just to the right of a pair of stars, known as the Twins of Gemini. Although the arrangement varies from month to month, the Moon makes it a monthly habit to visit the Twins, part of the Moon’s cycle through all the constellations of the Zodiac, or “signs” of the horoscope.