Our Moon reaches perigee, (closest distance from Earth), for this orbit on Thursday June 14th. At that time the Moon will be at a distance of 28.18 Earth diameters (359,500 km or 223,383 miles) from the Earth.
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*
Thursday evening May 14th, shortly after sunset local time (8:26 CDT), look toward the western horizon for a conjunction between a thin 1.25-day young waxing crescent Moon and the innermost planet Mercury. The two will be about 2-3o apart but very low over the western horizon.
*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)
Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”
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.
Also Follow me and other great resources at Feedspot.
Our Moon reaches apogee, (greatest distance from Earth), on Saturday June 2nd. At that time the Moon will more or less be at a distance of 31.77 Earth diameters (405,300 km or 251,842 miles) from the Earth.
Tuesday May 22nd is the autumnal equinox on the planet Mars as the planet transitions from summer during its 684 Earth day orbit around the Sun.
Each seasonal start/ending point is 90 degrees apart, but because of an elliptical-shaped orbit each Martian season is of varying lengths. Mars is at its greatest distance from the Sun, aphelion, before it reaches the Martian summer solstice when Mars is at 70o longitude. Perihelion, its closest to the Sun, is when Mars is at 250o longitude.
I’m not exactly sure why this particular date is used but by international agreement astronomers have selected 11 April, 1955 as 0 degrees for year 1 of this Martian calendar. What this means is that on Tuesday May 22nd, Earth time, it is the start of autumn of year 34 using the aforementioned calendar system.
According to the pseudoscience of astrology the Sun enters the constellation of the Gemini Twins on Monday 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 