The First Quarter Moon will arrive early in the week. It’ll officially arrive at 1:58 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon so look for the half-moon in the evening.
Use the Moon to help you find two planets at nightfall starting Thursday.
The Moon will be very close to Jupiter on Friday night and Saturn on Saturday, it’ll wax brighter each evening as well. Above is how you’ll find the trio on Friday evening.
The “Dog Days” of summer ended earlier this month and now you can find Sirius, the Dog Star (because it’s in the constellation Canis Major, “The Great Dog”), in the morning sky.
The “Dog Days” get their name because of the Dog Star. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Every year around July 23 the star and the Sun line up in conjunction.
This means the two rise and set together. The ancients believed that this brought added heat to the summer months and the “Dog Days” are generally defined as the 40 days when the two brightest stars in the sky are so close together meaning they last from July 3 to August 11.
We’ve since learned that the Earth’s tilt on its axis is responsible for the changing seasons but the term has survived into modern culture.
To find Sirius just look for Orion in the southeastern sky before sunrise. The three stars are known as “Orion’s Belt” will line up nicely with the Dog Star which hangs just below them.
It’ll be shining brightly so it’ll be tough to miss. Happy Hunting!
