The Bakersfield Night Sky By Nick Strobel (appeared September
29, 2007) The first star-like object you'll see in tonight's sky
is Jupiter low in the southwest but it will soon be overtaken by
the Sun in the next few weeks. If you are lucky you may be able
to spot Mercury very low in the west-southwest up to about a
half-hour after sunset. Later at night look for the bright
orange planet, Mars, in the eastern sky. Mars rises at around
11:15 and you will see it to the left of the horns of Taurus.
Venus will be the very bright "morning star" blazing in the
eastern sky after about 4 AM. Let's take a look at the
constellation Cygnus the Swan straight overhead at 9 to 10 PM.
It is the focus of the Great World Wide Star Count that is going
on from October 1 to 15. Organized by the Windows to the
Universe project at UCAR, you can help astronomers map light
pollution by telling them how many stars in Cygnus you can see
from your home. To help out go to www.windows.ucar.edu/starcount
. The chart below shows Cygnus as i