In the Sky This Month

Hercules, the strong man, stands directly overhead as darkness falls tonight. It’s marked by a lopsided square of stars known as the Keystone. Despite the constellation’s fame, though, the stars of Hercules aren’t all that bright.

The Moon stands above the spout of the celestial teapot tonight. The teapot is formed by the brightest stars of the constellation Sagittarius. The planet Saturn stands to the right of the Moon, and looks like a bright star.

The ringed planet Saturn stands quite close to the Moon tonight. The planet looks like a bright star just to the lower left of the Moon at nightfall.

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.