Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Monday, June 20th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:30.   The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 12:24 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:57.

One of the constellations of the Zodiac or circle of animals isn’t either animal or human.  It is Libra the Scales or balance.  It lies low in the southern sky at 11 p.m., just to the right of the rising Scorpius the scorpion.  Libra, it seems, is an afterthought, a simple diamond shape of four stars..  Its two brightest stars Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi translate to the north and south claw respectively, of Scorpius to the left of it.  The Arabs, at least, seemed to view this as part of Scorpius.  The balance was perhaps to signify the equality of day and night, at the time the sun was in this part of the sky at the start of autumn, over 2000 years ago.  Nowadays the sun is one constellation west, in Virgo at the start of autumn.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Libra the scales. Created using Stellarium