In the Sky This Month

The Moon has two bright companions tonight. The star Antares, the heart of the scorpion, stands below or to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall. The brighter planet Saturn is a bit farther to the lower left of the Moon.

Several prominent stars highlight summer’s evening skies. Arcturus is high in the west at nightfall, with slightly fainter Vega overhead. The Big Dipper is in the northwest, and Antares, the heart of the scorpion, hunkers low in the south.

Epsilon Lyrae, a famous double-double star system, stands high in the east as darkness falls this month, in Lyra, the harp. If you have sharp eyesight, you might see Epsilon Lyrae as two stars. A telescope reveals two more of its stars.

Vega, one of the brightest stars of summer nights, stands high in the sky as darkness falls this evening. It’s the brightest member of the Summer Triangle, a wide-spread pattern that’s easy to pick out even through the murky skies of a city.

The giant planet Jupiter is quite close to the Moon tonight, and shines like a brilliant star. The true star Spica is close to their left, adding to the beautiful conjunction.

Stellar time bombs shine in tonight’s sky. Among the brightest are Antares, the heart of Scorpius, which is low in the south, and Deneb, the tail of the swan, in the northeast. Each will end its life with a titanic blast known as a supernova.

A star system in the celestial swan can’t seem to settle down. Every few decades, V404 Cygni flares to thousands of times its normal brightness, the result of likely feeding frenzies by a black hole.

The tiny arrow known as Sagitta is in the east as night falls and arcs high overhead later on. Under dark skies you can just make out the arrow, not far to the upper left of Altair, the bright star at the southern point of the Summer Triangle.

Many amateur astronomers turn their telescopes toward the south on summer evenings. The region of the sky around Sagittarius and Scorpius contains some prominent star clusters, which are popular targets.

The star cluster Messier 11 is more than 6,000 light-years away, in the constellation Scutum, the shield. The cluster’s brightest stars outline the letter V, which resembles a flight of wild ducks. So M11 is also known as the Wild Duck Cluster.