Tuesday June 18th at around midnight local time the just past full Moon will be rising over the eastern horizon near the ringed planet Saturn. The two will be separated by about 0.5o and will fit nicely within the field of view of binoculars or the eyepiece of a telescope..
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 May 22nd the Moon will be crossing 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.
On the day of the node crossing the 17.5-day old waning gibbous Moon will be 5-7o to the west from the ringed planet Saturn. The following day, May 23rd, the 18.5-day old waning gibbous Moon will have orbited to the east side of Saturn passing within 5-6o.
According to the pseudoscience of astrology the Sun enters the constellation of the Gemini Twins on Tuesday May 21st. When in fact the actual position of the Sun on this date is still within the boundary of the constellation of Taurus the Bull, as this graphic and the banner graphic show.
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.
Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.
Late Monday evening May 20th the 15-day old waning gibbous Moon will be within about 3-4o from the outer ringed planet Jupiter, and about 8-9o from Antares, the ‘heart’ of Scorpius the Scorpion. Jupiter and the Moon will easily fit within the field of view of binoculars. Jupiter is currently located within the boundaries of the constellation of Ophiuchus the Healer, the 13th constellation of the Astronomical zodiac.
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.
Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.
Sunday morning May 19th the 15-day old waning gibbous Moon will be within 2-3o from Dwarf Planet Ceres. Considering that Ceres currently is a dim 6.8 apparent magnitude, and is that close to a just past full Moon, the chances of seeing Ceres are basically non-existent. However the reddish star Antares, down to the left from the Moon and Ceres, is visible. And over the next few days the Moon, as it wanes, will pass by Jupiter, then Saturn.
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.
Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.
The 11-12 day old waxing Gibbous Moon will be about 8-9o from the blue-white star Spica in the constellation Virgo the Harvest Maiden as it moves past Spica on May 15th and May 16th.
Tuesday May 14th the Sun in its apparent eastward motion along the ecliptic, moves out of the constellation Aries the Ram and into the constellation of Taurus the Bull. This is the true or actual position of the Sun as opposed to the pseudoscience of astrology which usually has the astrological Sun one constellation ahead or east from the Astronomical Sun’s position.
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.
Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.
