Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac, so it’s well known. But it’s small and faint, so it’s not easy to see – especially from light-polluted cities. Right now, though, a bright light points the way. Venus, the “evening star,” is passing quite close to the constellation’s brightest star. The rest of Capricornus spreads out below Venus.

The constellation represents a sea-goat – the body of a goat with the tail of a fish. And there are lots of legends to explain it.

In ancient Babylon, for example, the stars represented a god who had a human torso and the tail of a fish. He came out of the sea to pass along wisdom and knowledge. And in Greece, the stars represented the god Pan, who had the torso of a man and the hindquarters of a goat. The legend says he was threatened by a monster. To escape, he jumped into a river and tried to change himself into a fish. But he botched the job – creating the sea-goat.

The constellation’s brightest star is Delta Capricorni. It’s quite close to the left of Venus, which is well up in the southwest at dusk. Delta actually consists of four stars. The system is about 40 light-years from Earth.

The rest of the sea-goat lines up to their lower right. It forms a wide triangle. The shape is sometimes described as an arrowhead, or the bottom of a bikini bathing suit. No matter how you describe it, though, this is a good time to spot this famous but faint constellation.

Script by Damond Benningfield