In the Sky This Month

With the Sun beating down on the northern hemisphere, it’s hard to realize that we’re farthest from the Sun for the entire year today. We’re about a million and a half miles farther than the average distance of 93 million miles.

The planet Mercury is putting in a decent appearance in the early evening sky. It’s quite low as twilight fades, to the north of due west. It looks like a moderately bright star, far to the lower right of Venus, the “evening star.”

A small semicircle of stars crowns the evening sky: Corona Borealis. It appears high overhead around 10 or 11 p.m. The crown’s brightest star is Alphecca, which means “bright one of the dish” – a reference to the constellation’s bowl shape.

The binary system known as 16 Cygni is about 70 light-years away, in the constellation Cygnus, which is in the east and northeast in early evening. Both stars are nearly identical to the Sun, and one of them is orbited by a giant planet.

Aquila, the eagle, is in the eastern sky at nightfall. Its brightest star, Altair, is at the lower right corner of the Summer Triangle. A star named Tarazed is just above Altair. Tarazed is a giant star that is nearing the end of its life.

The Summer Triangle is well up in the eastern sky at nightfall, and passes directly overhead after midnight. Vega, its brightest point, is at the top of the triangle in early evening. Deneb is the left point, with Altair to the lower right.

The gibbous Moon has a famous companion tonight: the planet Mars. It is to the lower right of the Moon as they climb into good view, around midnight, and almost directly below the Moon at first light tomorrow. Mars looks like a bright orange star.

The planet Mars is growing brighter by the day. It’s in good view in the southeast by midnight, and looks like a bright orange star. Tonight, it stands to the lower left of the Moon.

Arcturus, the leading light of Bootes, the herdsman, stands high in the south as twilight turns to darkness. It is the brightest true star in the sky during the evening hours, so it’s hard to miss. It shines yellow-orange.

Saturn lines up opposite the Sun today, so it rises at sunset and is in view all night. A planet is closest to Earth at opposition, so it shines brightest for the year. Tonight, Saturn will stick close to the Moon.