Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Thursday, May 29th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 9:18.   The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:04 this evening.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:01.

High in the south southeastern sky at 10:30 tonight can be found the kite shaped constellation of Boötes the herdsman, chasing or herding the Great Bear Ursa Major of which the Big Dipper is the hind end, across the sky.  The bright star at the base of the kite is the 4th brightest night-time star Arcturus.  It can be found and name remembered by first locating the Big Dipper and by following the arc or curve of the handle to Arcturus.  This star is an orange-colored giant star, 37 light years away.  Its light was used open the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair believing its light left the star in 1893 the year of the previous Chicago Worlds Fair.  It turns out that Arcturus is 3 light years closer than what they thought.

Addendum

Bootes and Ursa Major high overhead on late spring evenings at 11 p.m. Created using Stellarium.