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.
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, “
