Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, August 20th.  The sun rises at 6:51.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:39.   The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 9:48 this evening.

Located below the eastern edge of the Summer Triangle of three of the brightest stars in the sky, which is nearly overhead sky at 10 p.m., is the tiny constellation of Delphinus the dolphin, which is seen high in the south.  Delphinus’ 6 stars in a small parallelogram with a tail, really does look like a dolphin leaping out of the water.  The parallelogram itself has the name Job’s Coffin.  The origin of this asterism or informal constellation is unknown.  Of the dolphin itself: the ancient Greeks appreciated this aquatic mammal as we do, and told stories of dolphins rescuing shipwrecked sailors.  There’s another tiny constellation to the right of Delphinus, Sagitta the arrow, which represents Cupid’s dart.  [Off the tail of Sagitta binoculars will find a cute inverted coat hanger in the stars.]

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.  Bracketed text was removed from the audio program due to time constraints.

Addendum

Delphinus, Sagitta and the Coat hanger. Diagram created using Stellarium.