Tag Archives: first quarter moon

Venus and Moon Are In Conjunctions

Posted on by
Reply

   Monday evening May 21st the first quarter Moon and the inner planet Venus will each be in their own respective conjunctions. Venus is within 1o from the open star cluster, M-35, located near the foot of Castor, one of the Gemini Twins. Venus currently shines with an apparent magnitude of -3.96, and at that brightness will outshine the 5th magnitude of M-35.

    Nonetheless the two should be visible with binoculars, as this graphic simulates, as well as a couple of 3rd magnitude stars nearby.


   Further toward the east, and unmistakable is the first quarter Moon. During the night hours the Moon, as it orbits eastward, will pass within about 1.5o from the star Regulus in Leo the Lion. Since Regulus is very close to the ecliptic there is a good chance that the Moon and Regulus will have a regular repetitive pattern or cycle of conjunctions. As in the months that Regulus is above the horizon, which include the next two months, June 18th and July 15th.

   
   
   

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.

March Perigee Moon

Posted on by
Reply

   The Moon reaches perigee, (minimum distance from Earth), this month on Monday March 26th. At that time the Moon will more or less be at a distance of 28.90 Earth diameters (369,106 km or 229352 miles) from the Earth.
Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth*

On the day of perigee the 9.5-day old waxing gibbous Moon rises at mid-afternoon and is located between Procyon in Canis Minor and Regulus in Leo the Lion.

*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”


Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.

September Moon at Apogee

Posted on by
Reply

   Our Moon reaches apogee, (greatest distance from Earth), on Wednesday September 27th. At that time the Moon will more or less be at a distance of 31.70 Earth diameters (404,308 km or 251,225 miles) from the Earth.

   Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth*

   On the day of the apogee the 7.5-day old first quarter Moon rises at mid-day and is about 10o to the east from Saturn and is just above M-8, the Lagoon Nebula. Unfortunately the reflected light from the Moon will brighten the sky enough to make seeing the Milky Way all but impossible. However with binoculars or a telescope M-8 may be seen – but not as well as when the Moon’s light is not interfering.

*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.

An Astro 2fer

Posted on by
Reply

   The title may be somewhat of a U.S.A. expression but it simply means there are two Astronomy events I am writing about and have combined them into one posting. So around sunset local time on Wednesday May 3rd the waxing, or very nearly first quarter Moon, will be within a few degrees from the star Regulus in Leo the Lion. While over the western horizon the ‘Red Planet’ Mars is near the stars making up the face of Taurus the Bull – the Hyades open star cluster.


   
   
   

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.

3 Mornings With the ISS

Posted on by
Reply

   A favorite pastime of mine is to watch the International Space Station orbit over my part of the world and when possible capture the flyover on film.
   This picture is from Wednesday September 21st and is a time lapse consisting of about 80 separate pictures stacked together and processed as one picture.
    The dashed line is the reflected light from the ISS and each dash represents 2.5 seconds of travel. The camera was more or less centered on Polaris, above the chimney, so as the Earth rotated stars around Polaris moved and the curved lines show the apparent circumpolar path they follow.
   Thursday morning as I was walking my dog prior to leaving for work I spotted the ISS and whipped out my cellphone and captured some of its flight as a short video. The shaky motion comes from holding onto a 65 lb. dog on a leash with one hand and the cellphone in my other hand.
Click here to see the calculated path as done by the Heavens-Above web site.

   This morning I set up for a time lapse series as I did on Wednesday. With large trees as my southern horizon this flyover past the constellation of Orion and the bright star Sirius was sort of a challenge. This is a series of 10 pictures stacked to show as one picture.
Click here to see the calculated path as done by the Heavens-Above web site.

   Camera settings for all pictures: 18mm; f4.5; ISO 1600; 2.5 sec.

   A shout-out to Mrs. Soukup’s online Astronomy students.

   
   
   

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.

Moon Near Mars

Posted on by
Reply

   Friday evening September 9th after sunset look toward the southwestern horizon for the first quarter Moon to be about 7o from the reddish planet Mars.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.

August Moon at Apogee

Posted on by
Reply

10aug-apogee_moon
   Our Moon reaches apogee, (greatest distance from Earth), on Wednesday August 10th. At that time the Moon will more or less be at a distance of 31.69 Earth diameters (404,262 km or 251,197 miles) from the Earth.
   Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth*

*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”

   
   The 8.6-day old first quarter Moon rises around mid-day local time and is near the planet Mars over the southwestern horizon after sunset.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.