Stellar Cascade
Few of the stars of Camelopardalis, the giraffe, are visible to the unaided eye. With binoculars, though, you can pick out several pretty sights. One is Kemble’s Cascade, a string of about 20 stars along the giraffe’s neck.
Epsilon Eridani
The star Epsilon Eridani is fairly faint, but under dark skies, it is visible to the unaided eye to the west of Orion. It stands well up in the south in early evening. The star is host to at least one planet, and perhaps more.
Double Cluster
A few of the constellations of autumn still offer some nice evening sights. One example is Perseus, which stands high in the north in mid evening. One of its most beautiful sights is the Double Cluster — two star clusters that appear side by side.
Eridanus
If you look south two or three hours after sunset tonight, you’ll be gazing into Eridanus, the river, one of the largest of the 88 constellations. It’s long and winding, and not easy to see.
River’s End
The brightest star of Eridanus, the celestial river, is at the river’s southern tip. In fact, the name Achernar means “river’s end.” It stands near Rigel, the bright star that marks the foot of Orion, which is in the southeast at nightfall.
Beta Ceti
Cetus, the whale or sea monster, is in the south and southwest at nightfall. Its brightest star, Beta Ceti, is the second-brightest star in a wide swath of sky. It’s outshined only by Fomalhaut, which is quite low at that hour.
Camelopardalis
Camelopardalis, the giraffe, is one of the largest constellations, covering a big wedge of the northern sky. But it isn’t very bold. All of its stars are so faint that you need to get away from city lights to see them.
Moon and Planets
The Moon and two bright planets form a beautiful triangle at dawn tomorrow. Brilliant Jupiter stands to the right of the Moon, with fainter orange Mars close below them.
Vanishing Venus
Venus will pass behind the Sun today, so it is lost from view in the Sun’s glare. It will return to view next month, when it will shine as the brilliant Evening Star.
Last-Quarter Moon
The Moon is at last quarter today at 4:25 p.m. CST. Sunlight will illuminate half of the lunar hemisphere that faces Earth. The illuminated fraction will continue growing smaller until the Moon is new, on January 16.