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.
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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, “
