Venus and Saturn II
Two of the eight planets of the solar system highlight the western evening sky. Venus is the brilliant Evening Star. Saturn is directly below it. It looks like a fairly bright star, although not nearly as bright as Venus.
Moon and Antares
Antares, the bright orange star at the heart of the scorpion, stands low in the south-southeast at dawn. Tomorrow, it will be close to the lower left of the crescent Moon.
Hunter and Hunted
Orion and Scorpius are on opposite sides of the sky, yet they share a common mythology. They’re separated because one was always trying to kill the other. Orion is in the east and southeast at nightfall, while Scorpius is climbing into the dawn sky.
Orion Arm
Our solar system resides inside one of the Milky Way Galaxy’s shorter spiral arms. It’s called the Orion Arm because the stars of Orion are among its brightest members. The arm wraps only about a quarter of the way around the galaxy.
Orion’s Belt
Individually, the stars of Orion’s Belt don’t look that impressive, but their appearance is deceiving. The stars are among the most impressive in the galaxy. They have to be for us to see them at all, because they are about 1,200 light-years away.
Stellar Hearth
Orion is in the east and southeast at nightfall. Its three-star belt extends upward from the horizon. The Orion Nebula, which is a giant stellar nursery, looks like a fuzzy star to the right of the belt. To the ancient Maya, it represented the hearth of creation.
Arneb
Lepus, the rabbit, is below the feet of Orion the hunter, in the southeast at nightfall. Its brightest star, Arneb, is only about 13 million years old, yet it’s likely to expire within the next million years or so because it’s much more massive than the Sun.
Venus and Saturn
The planets Venus and Saturn are in the southwest at nightfall. Venus is the brilliant Evening Star. Tonight, Saturn stands quite close to the left of Venus. It’s only about half a percent as bright as Venus, but still easy to find.
Moon and Regulus
Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, the lion, is especially easy to spot tonight. It stands above the gibbous Moon as they climb into good view, around 9 or 9:30 p.m.
Mars Opposition II
Mars is at opposition today. It aligns opposite the Sun, so it rises at sunset and remains in view all night. It shines brightest for the year as well. Mars is farther from Earth than at many other oppositions, however, so it’s not nearly as bright as it can be.