In the Sky This Month

Venus and the Pleiades are sliding past each other. Venus is the “evening star,” high in the west at nightfall. The Pleiades is a tiny dipper-shaped star cluster. It lines up to the right of Venus tonight.

Sometimes, when the Sun is low in the sky, you can see three Suns: the real one and two smaller, fainter ones flanking it. The extras are commonly known as sundogs, a name derived from the verb form of dog, which means to follow.

Lepus, the hare, hops below the feet of Orion, which is in the southwest at nightfall. A planet has been discovered orbiting WASP-49, a star in Lepus. Astronomers have found evidence of a moon orbiting the planet, which would make it the first known “exomoon.”

Cancer, the crab, is high overhead as night falls. One of its stars is orbited by a giant planet that’s so close to the star that its atmosphere is being blasted away into space. The planet is far too faint, though, to see without a telescope.

The planets Mars and Saturn are forming a tight pair in the early morning sky. They are low in the southeast at first light, to the lower left of brilliant Jupiter. Tomorrow, Mars will stand a little below Saturn.

Arneb, the leading light of the constellation Lepus, the hare, is in the southwest as night falls, below brilliant Orion. Arneb is roughly 14 times the mass of the Sun. Such heavy stars burn out quickly, then explode as supernovae.

Venus, the brilliant “evening star,” teams with the crescent Moon to put on a great show this evening. They are well up in the sky at nightfall, and don’t set until shortly before midnight.

The crescent Moon looks up at the planet Venus this evening. Venus is the brilliant “evening star,” outshining every other planet and star in the night sky.

Betelgeuse has lost some of its luster in recent months. This year, it has dropped to the faintest level ever recorded with modern instruments. The orange star forms the shoulder of Orion the hunter and stands high in the southwest as night falls.

NGC 4449 is a dwarf galaxy that is forming stars at a rapid pace — star for star, much faster than in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. It is in the northeast at nightfall, not far from the Big Dipper. The galaxy is so faint that you need a telescope to see it.