Sultry summer nights were common during my childhood in eastern Pennsylvania. One could usually find me flat on my back in the cool grass gazing into a star-filled sky.

It was a simpler time, an innocent time when neighbors sat on their front porches in the evening. There was no homework for at least several weeks, and ice cream or watermelon was all we needed to chase away the summer heat. Life seemed about as good as it could possibly get.

It was on nights like these that I recall watching my favorite star, Antares, its ruddy glow twinkling through the summertime haze that always seemed to hang over my neighbor's house to the south.

Though life has changed much since those seemingly halcyon days, Antares remains a wonderful friend. Even now, just seeing this star fills my heart with warm memories — no matter where on the globe I happen to be.

That's the power of making friends with the stars.

Not only did Antares play a prominent role in my life, but also in many early cultures. For example, in about 3,000 B.C. Antares was considered one of the four “royal stars” of ancient Persia; some suggest it might have been the “lance star” referred to in the Old Testament Book of Job. Even the ancient Egyptians aligned temples with this star to make it part of their ceremonies.

Antares marks the heart of the celestial arachnid we know as Scorpius, the scorpion, one of the most recognizable constellations in the heavens. Look for it low in the southern sky after dark this week. You will have little trouble finding it: Several stars outline claws at its top and a long curving stellar arc traces its tail and stinger all along the hazy band of the Milky Way.

And just west of Antares in the night sky lies a faint, fuzzy spot of light that astronomers know as M4, a great globular cluster of hundreds of thousands of stars, one of the nearest to Earth at only 7,200 light years away. If you have a small telescope, aim it in this direction and you'll witness one of the most remarkable celestial sights of the season.

Ah, summertime! What a marvelous time of year to leave behind your mundane worries, get out to a dark location at night, lay on the grass and make friends with the stars.

To find out more about Dennis Mammana and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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