The early evening sky will be dark until early next week when the waxing (growing larger) crescent moon begins to brighten the sky. Now is a good time to catch Cepheus the King of Ethiopia.
Unfortunately, Cepheus does not get a lot of recognition even though it is large and has many astronomical objects of interest. Cepheus is rather faint and hard to find at first, particularly in light polluted skies. However, it can be seen from most of Tucson if you take the time to seek it out.
At 9 p.m. Cepheus is almost directly north and 10-20 degrees northeast of Polaris, the North Star. To the east of Cepheus is Cassiopeia, the Queen of Ethiopia. Cassiopeia gets much more fame than Cepheus, because her stars are brighter, and the constellation is more recognizable.
Cepheus and Cassiopeia were legendary rulers of a kingdom that is supposed to have stretched from present day Syria down to the shores of the Red Sea. Their daughter was Andromeda, and her husband was Perseus, all of whom are now in the sky.
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To me, Cepheus looks like a misshapen pentagon, sort of a square on top of a triangle with the apex of the triangle pointed toward the north. Cepheus needs a dark sky for proper appreciation of its beauty. A wonderful stretch of the Milky Way runs through Cassiopeia and Cepheus with many superb star clusters and nebulae favored by amateur and professional astronomers.
