Our Moon reaches perigee, (closest to Earth), for the second time this orbit, on Tuesday March 30th. For this perigee the 18-day old waning gibbous Moon will be at a distance of 28.24 Earth diameters, 223,880 miles (360,300 km) from the Earth.
On the date of the perigee Moon the 18-day old waning gibbous Moon will rise around 10 pm local time. The Moon is within the boundaries of Libra the Scales and on either side of the Moon are two stars with interesting sounding names. They are the stars Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi. Despite these two stars belonging to the constellation Libra the Scales the translation of the star names mean “Northern Claw” (Zubeneschamali), and “Southern Claw” (Zubenelgenubi) of Scorpius the Scorpion.
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 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)
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.
The 6.6-day old waxing crescent Moon crosses the plane of the ecliptic moving south. This is known as the descending node, one of two intersections the Moon’s orbital path (dark green line) has with the ecliptic. 
From our perspective the orbits of Mercury and Venus appear to move from one side of the Sun to the other – out to the left (east) from the Sun to eastern elongation, then reverse and move westward (inferior conjunction) between the Earth and the Sun to western elongation. From there the inner planet moves eastward going behind the Sun (superior conjunction) and eventually reappearing on the eastern side of the Sun for an eastern elongation. Repeat over and over – do not stop!
