No, that is not the opening line to a “walked into a bar…” joke, but rather an example of trying to fit 4 different topics into one title!
Read on.
Friday evening January 29th the 17-day old waning gibbous Moon will be about 4-5o from the star Regulus. This star is known as the ‘Heart’ of the constellation Leo the Lion.
Mars is visible further west over the southwest horizon and is a few degrees from the planet Uranus. Both are near the 3-star pattern for the constellation Aries the Ram and its brightest star Hamal with a 2.0 apparent magnitude. The two planets have a sharp contrast in relative apparent magnitude with Hamal and with each other – Mars at 0.40 and Uranus at a 5.80 apparent magnitude. Both planets will fit within the field of view of binoculars with Mars appearing as a small reddish ‘dot’ and Uranus, if seen at all, a much fainter bluish-green and smaller ‘dot’.
Earlier in the evening, after sunset, look toward the western horizon for the innermost planet Mercury. With an apparent magnitude of 0.45 Mercury is slightly dimmer than Mars and should be easy to spot as it will be the brightest star-like object in that direction.
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Late Saturday evening January 2nd, or early Sunday morning the 3rd, watch for the 20-day old waning gibbous Moon to be about 6-7o from the star Regulus. Regulus is the ‘heart’ of the lion, the constellation Leo the Lion.
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Friday October 2nd if you are a morning type look toward the eastern horizon before sunrise for the inner planet Venus to be about 1o from the ‘heart’ of Leo the Lion, the star Regulus. Look westward, you can’t miss it, for the the just past full Harvest Moon, the waning gibbous Moon, to be within 9o from the planet Mars as the two prepare to set a couple of hours after sunrise local time.
If you can wait, later that day, watch for the Moon and Mars as they rise together a couple of hours after sunset and are separated by about 1o from one another.
Keep on eye on the outer planets Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter being closer to the Sun than Saturn orbits more quickly and so it is steadily catching up with Saturn for a very close conjunction toward the end of December.
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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The next several evenings, as our Moon waxes through its phases, the Moon will pass by some familiar celestial objects – stars, star clusters, and planets. They all have something in common, that being that these objects are near the ecliptic. Our Moon follows the ecliptic in a more or less parallel path assuming that parallel paths may be bent! The Moon’s orbit is inclined or tilted about 6o from the ecliptic meaning that the Moon will at times be above, below, or on the ecliptic.
So with the above in mind on the evenings of June 24th and 25th the 3 to 5-day old waxing crescent Moon will be passing by the heart of Leo the Lion, the bright star Regulus. As you can see from the graphic above Regulus lies nearly on the ecliptic.
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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Over the course of 3 days, May 1st through the 3rd the 9 to 11-day old waxing gibbous Moon will traverse the constellation Leo the Lion. On the evening of May 1st the 9-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be a few degrees from the heart of the Lion, the star Regulus. This star is at the bottom of the backward question-mark pattern forming the head of the Lion.
Two days later, on the evening of May 3rd, the 11-day old waxing gibbous Moon will be a few degrees from the tail of the Lion, the star Denebola. This star is the eastern point of a triangle pattern with two stars further to the west, right, from Denebola.
Here is an interesting article by John Heasley, “Living on Lunar Time.” Follow his suggestions for keeping track of our Moon as it phases through the month of May. (Article is on Facebook)
Follow the Moon for 3 Days
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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Sunday February 9th the full Moon will be about 2-3o from the star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion as they both rise early in the evening, and make their way across the sky.
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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Over the next few evenings, Saturday December 14th, Sunday the 15th, and Monday the 16th the waning gibbous Moon will orbit eastward starting from about 7-8o south of Pollux to passing about 6-8o from M-44, the ‘Beehive Cluster’, an open star cluster in the constellation Cancer the Crab. By Monday the 16th the waning gibbous Moon will be about 2o from the heart of Leo the Lion, the star Regulus.
During a 24-hour rotation of the Earth the Moon will have moved approximately 15o eastward. In terms of Moon position that 15o is equal to one hour — (divide 360o by 24 hours = 15o). What this has to do with the Moon’s position is that each day or night the Moon rises about 1 hour earlier. These 3 graphics show the effect of this in that it will be about 1 hour later for the Moon to be more or less in the same spot in the sky relative to the horizon.
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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Wednesday morning November 20th watch for the 3rd quarter Moon to be about 5-6o to the east from the heart of Leo the Lion, the star Regulus. This graphic shows the skies at 1:00 am CST – my time zone, and is great for those up late or cannot sleep!
However a more reasonable time for seeing this conjunction may be a few hours later as the Sun rises.
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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According to the pseudoscience of astrology the Sun enters the constellation of Scorpio the Scorpion on Wednesday October 23rd. When in fact the actual position of the Sun is still within the boundaries of the constellation of Virgo the Harvest Maiden.
Before the Sun rises on Wednesday morning watch for the 24-day old waning crescent Moon to be 4-5o from the ‘heart’ of Leo the lion, the star Regulus.
Read a little more about how astrology has the Sun incorrectly placed in a previous blog, and in another blog discussing the effects of precession.
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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