One of the fainter constellations located in the sky this time of year is Cancer the Crab. Consisting of six moderately bright stars, one would have a difficult time searching for it in highly lit suburban skies. A great aid is first locating the main stars of Gemini the Twins namely Castor and Pollux off to the Crab’s right. Under country skies on a moonless night, the Cancer is easier to find along with its premiere object – M44, the Beehive Cluster.

Most of the constellations we see can be located from moderate light-polluted skies. If you are new to astronomy, this is a good way to study the constellations which are highlighted for the most part by bright stars. Once you move to the dark countryside on a moonless night, standing under two thousand stars can be overwhelming.

Aquarius the Water Bearer ranks as the 10th largest constellation in area. With a total of 980 square degrees, it is located in the southern part of the night sky between the constellations Capricorn on the right and Pisces on the left. The asterism consists of ten stars appearing as two side by side backward commas. The alpha star named Sadalmelik shines at magnitude 3.2 is a yellow G type star located some 750 light-years from us.

By now you have probably heard about the close approach of asteroid 3122 Florence on September 1. During the first few nights of September, you will have the opportunity to follow asteroid 3122 Florence on its northern trek. The asteroid is named in honour of Florence Nightingale – the founder of modern nursing in the early 1900’s.