Today:
Between 6:45 and 7:00 PM this evening, you’ll get a brief glimpse of the departing star Antares, the “heart” of Scorpio, the Scorpion, low in the southwest, sparkling red to the right of a waxing Crescent Moon. Antares slips into the Sun’s glare in the next week or so, returning to the evenings next May.
Thursday:
Guess who’s rising at midnight, about one hour before the waning Moon returns to the skies? The Winter champion Orion lifts into the east and southeast for night owls, tracking to due south near 4:30 tomorrow morning, and then heads into the southwest just as twilight begins, near 6 o’clock.
Friday:
The planet Mercury slides behind the Sun today, nothing that we can observe, but it shifts Mercury into the evening skies by next month. Unfortunately, the Earth’s tilted axis keeps it too low for viewing. After another orbit, Mercury makes a much better appearance in the evenings next March.