Sun rises at 5:36am
Sun sets at 6:48pm
Moon phase: first quarter moon, waxing
Moon rises at 11:45am
Moon sets at midnight
Get out your binoculars
Jupiter is quite near the Moon this weekend. It looks like a brilliant star just to the right of the Moon. Through binoculars, Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto look like tiny stars all in a line close to the giant planet. The Moon and Jupiter will set together around midnight, look to the west to see this pretty sight.
Myths in the sky
Ophiucus and Serpens are two constellations that are intertwined in both mythology and in the sky. They are easy to spot right now in our night sky, because there are two bright planets and a bright star right next to them. Look to the southeast sky after night fall. Ophiucus looks a bit like a big house tipped on its left side. Use your imagination to see him holding Serpens, the snake, in his hands.
In mythology, the story goes that Ophiucus, the serpent bearer, was the son of the god Apollo. It is told how he became a great healer by an encounter he had with a snake. As he walked through the forest one day, Ophiucus saw one snake bring another snake, a dead one, back to life by using some herbs. He studied the herbs and learned how to use them. He began to heal the sick, and even resurrected the dead. You would think that this would be a good thing, but it made Hades, the god of the underworld, very angry and so he naturally complained to Zeus. One version of the story has Zeus striking Ophiucus with a lightning bolt and placing his image among the stars. It seems you can’t win for losing with those Greek gods!
Find Ophiucus in the Southeast sky as night falls this weekend. His head is to the east and his feet are to the south. Look for the triangle of three bright “stars,” just to the right of Ophiucus: Mars above with Saturn and Arcturus together at the triangle’s base. Saturn is actually right on Ophiucus’ knee. Antares is the bright star that sits in the eye of the Scorpios constellation. Mars is currently situated higher up, in the constellation of Libra. This grouping of stars and planets will rise together as the night passes, eventually crossing the zenith of the sky at midnight and heading toward the western horizon near daybreak.
Scorpio & the Milky Way
Is Antares the eye or the heart of the scorpion? Different stargazers see different things, but regardless of all that, Scorpio is much beloved by almost all astronomers. This is because of various reasons such as its brightness, its graceful curve of stars, or its myths. But most astronomers find its proximity to the Milky Way Galaxy to be high on the list of Scorpio’s attributes.
If the sky is dark enough, and you can get away from any street lights and other illuminations, you will see what they find so appealing. Scorpio, with its brilliant Antares, seems to point the way to the Milky Way, a zone of gaseous textures, white, grey and blue light from myriad stars, gas and dust. This zone is actually our view of our own galaxy, a spiral group of stars 200,000 light years across in which our solar system sits. Some aboriginal people called the Milky Way: “The Backbone of the Night.” Such poetic imagery!
If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later.
Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett.
