Tuesday July 9th the outer planet Saturn reaches its orbital position known as opposition. This is a position which has the faster moving Earth passing Saturn and at opposition is centered between the outer planet and the Sun. Picture the arrangement with the Moon at full phase; Sun – Earth – Moon, and that is similar to the arrangement for Saturn at opposition.
When an outer planet, like Saturn, reaches opposition that planet rises around local time for sunset and is visible all night.
The 7.5-day old waning gibbous moon will be west from Saturn and a few degrees above the bluish-white star Spica in Virgo the Harvest Maiden – both over the southwestern horizon. Look for the planet Jupiter and the reddish star Antares, the ‘heart’ of Scorpius the Scorpion to be just to the west from Saturn.
Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.
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Tuesday evening October 2nd the 4-day old waxing crescent Moon will be in the claws of Scorpius the Scorpion, and about 6-7o from the heart of Scorpius, the reddish star Antares. The Moon will be about 8o from 8th magnitude Dwarf Planet Ceres, and about 11-12o from -2 magnitude Jupiter. 
