06/09/2020 – Ephemeris – The constellation of the crow and a star often mistaken for a UFO

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 9:27, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 1:06 tomorrow morning.

I don’t want spring to get away from us without pointing out a small but distinctive constellation now low in the southwest at 11 pm called Corvus the crow that to me looks like an odd shaped box. Wider at the bottom than the top and left side taller than the right. It’s supposed to be a crow in flight diagonally to the upper right. I find it easy to find by that odd shaped box. Also at 11 pm, the summer constellation of Scorpius the scorpion is rising with its bright red star Antares twinkling madly. This red giant star stays low in the southern sky, so we always, here in Michigan, see it through lots of atmosphere whose turbulence accentuates its twinkling. I call it my UFO star. It’s a riot in binoculars or a telescope.

The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Corvus the crow and Antares the star in Scorpius at 11 pm tonight, June 9, 2020. Created using Stellarium and its embedded art. This is not how I see either constellation. Everyone gets to use their own imagination. Mine doesn’t agree with either image, but I’m not artistic enough to show how I imagine them. Though for Corvus I just see the distinctive box. Click on the image to enlarge it.