The Night Sky – finding comfort in the stars
Wednesday, Mercury’s day.
Libra moon today till around midnight.
Then Scorpio moon early in the morning.
Tonight Mercury enters Virgo –
Mercury is at home in both Gemini & VIrgo.
Gemini’s Mercury gathers the information.
Virgo’s Mercury organizes that information.
Two important tasks – gather & organize.

In the morning twilight we can see bright red Mars in between Venus in the north & Jupiter in the South. At night, pale yellow Saturn rises in the sky. It’s said that only night owls can see Saturn.
Find the waxing crescent moon tonight, Near is Spica (blue white star, 15th brightest in the night sky), tonight, tomorrow & the night after, the bright star in Virgo, the Maiden. Spica shines like a diamond, with first magnitude brightness. Spica’s star is the shaft of wheat the Virgo Maiden carries as nourishment for humanit.
Earth Sky says Spica is near the elliptic (2 degrees away), the path of the planets.

There is also a bright orange star to see. It’s Arcturus.
Arcturus is a red giant star in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth’s sky and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes (the herdsman). Arcturus is also among the brightest stars that can be seen from Earth. Arcturus, has special significance in many cultures throughout the world. It is, after all, the fourth brightest star in the sky. Arcturus is also the nearest bright star to Polaris, the North Star, which does not seem to move from moment to moment or night to night. Spring begins when Arcturus rises in the East. Arcturus is called the Guardian of the Bear, due to its close location to the Great Bear, the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major. The story of the constellation Bootes is a beautiful story of love & devotion. Arcturus set the dates for the Egyptina festivals & was called “keeper of the heavens” by the Egyptians. The Chinese called Arcturus, The Golden Palace of the Emperor.” When sailors saw Arcturus rising, they saw it as a harbinger of tumultuous seas. Arcturus is 25x wider than our Sun, however it contains the same “star stuff” as our Sun. Arcturus is an orange giant, which means it’s reached the end of its life. Our Sun has only reached middle age. Arcturus will collapse into a white dwarf & die in a couple of hundred million years. Time is different out there in the cosmos. Arcturus is a “cool” star – 7K degrees. Our Sun is 10K degrees. The Earth receives warmth from Arcturus. The same heal we would receive from a candle 5 miles away. At the Chicago Exposition in 1933, the energy of Artcurus (focused) was able to flip the switch that turned on a bank of floodlights.

Summer Meteors

Early August. Two meteor showers – the Perseids and the Delta Aquariids. The best time to watch is after midnight, when the radiant points for these showers have had a chance to climb into the sky, to be seen from all points on Earth. The meteors will peak during the August full moon, so we need to look for them now before they are shadowed by the Moon’s light.

Looking up in order to find calmness in the storm, love, Risa