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Ask the Astronomer

Q: There’s a really bright star flickering many different colors, not far above the southwestern horizon at around 8:15 p.m. What is it? It’s incredible!

A: You are seeing the Dog Star, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Every late April and early May in southern Arizona at around 8 p.m., Sirius can be easily found by pointing left from Orion’s three-star belt (that’s pointing southwest in the sky if you’re an astronomer). You’ll need to be in an area to see the southwestern horizon, as Sirius is not very high above the horizon. When you’ve found it, look for Sirius to flicker different colors dramatically when low in the sky, a wonderful sight in binoculars. Look soon, though, as there won’t be many days left to see Sirius and Orion. They set earlier each night in evening twilight.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

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