In the Sky This Month

Sagitta, the arrow, slices through the Milky Way. It is one of the smallest of the 88 constellations. As darkness falls this evening, look for it in the east, between Deneb and Altair, two of the stars of the Summer Triangle.

T Coronae Borealis has been flaring up every 80 years. The last outburst was in 1946, so it’s due for the next one. Corona Borealis is a semicircle of stars high in the southwest at nightfall. T Coronae is close to the top left end of the semicircle.

The crescent Moon is in the west as darkness falls. The brilliant planet Venus, the Evening Star, is close to the right. Venus outshines every other planet and star in the night sky.

The Evening Star and the heart of the lion are close to the crescent Moon in early evening. The lion’s heart, the star Regulus, is almost touching the Moon. Much brighter Venus, the Evening Star, is farther to the upper left of the Moon.

Libra, the balance scales, is in the southwest this evening, to the upper right of the celestial scorpion. Libra’s brightest star represents one of the scorpion’s claws. It is called Zubeneschamali, from an Arabic name meaning “the northern claw.”

The Moon is new today at 4:43 a.m. CDT. The new Moon occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, so it is too close to the Sun to observe. It will return to view tomorrow evening as a thin crescent quite low in the sky during twilight.

The Milky Way shines at its best on summer nights. Right now, it arcs across the east as the sky gets fully dark, and passes high overhead later on. Under dark skies, it looks like a hazy band of light.

Tiny Delphinus, the dolphin, is in the east at nightfall. Its brightest stars really do outline the shape of a dolphin. Sualocin is the brightest star in the pattern, and represents the dolphin’s back.

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy is in good view as night falls. It’s in the constellation Sagittarius, whose most prominent stars form the outline of a teapot. The center of the galaxy is immersed in puffs of “steam” that appear to rise from the teapot.

The Moon and the planet Mars line up with the star Aldebaran in tomorrow’s dawn sky. Mars looks like a bright star to the lower right of the Moon. Aldebaran is even brighter, about the same distance to the lower right of Mars.