Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. What is the bright white star in the east right now?

Mercury now shines at magnitude –0.8 in the evening sky, lingering above the horizon some 80 minutes after the Sun disappears. Tonight, the solar system’s smallest planet stands just 20′ from the ...

The first observer to catalog differences in star brightnesses was Greek astronomer Hipparchus. He created a catalog around 135 B.C.E. of roughly 850 stars divided into six ranges. He called the ...