Howdy, kids! Over the last couple of months we’ve visited with a multitude of wonderful sky characters. We’ve located the Triangle, met the Dragon, visited in the Royal House, met a King and Queen and their children, a celestial Herdsman and his grandchildren, and we’ve even met an ancient Egytian! Now when we go out at night, we often find ourselves surrounded by bugs and other creepy crawlies in the night. Did you know that you can find them in the stars, too? Then sit back and listen to the voices on the wind as it tells you where to look…
“If you stop to admire the constellation of Scorpius on a dark night, perhaps you’ll notice a silvery band that seems to curve down the sky towards its bright stars. That’s no cloud… That’s the Milky Way! The stars of Scorpius help to point the way to our own galaxy’s spiral arm. Doesn’t it look like a silver road? There is a legend that the sky god Helios allowed his son Phaeton to drive his Sun chariot along this road. When he encountered the Scorpion, he wrecked an caused an awful fire that made the deserts in Africa and caused the people’s skin to turn black.”
The Moon is now waxing and moving gradually east each night. It won’t be long until it passes through Scorpius and near Antares on a very special date – July 4th! For some lucky kids somewhere, this could mean an occultation event… a time when the Moon will “cover up” the bright red star as they pass each other in the night. For others, the pair will only be close, but what a treat to point out your new “star smarts” to others while you’re out watching fireworks!
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