Posts Tagged ‘Moon tonight’
Earthsky Tonight—June 6: Mars and Regulus in
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org The planet Mars and the star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, highlight their conjunction this evening. Two heavenly bodies are said to be in conjunction whenever they stand north and south of one another. Tonight, Mars and Regulus shine about a pinky-width apart. By all means, look at the evening couple through binoculars or low power on a telescope. The contrast of color makes their partner’s coloration ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 5: Moon and Jupiter pair up
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Before daybreak tomorrow (Sunday, June 6), the two most brilliant heavenly bodies of the early morning sky – the waning crescent moon and the dazzling planet Jupiter – couple up together to light up the dawn and predawn hours. The moon and Jupiter showcase themselves all over the world, except at far northern latitudes near and north of the Arctic Circle. That far north, the June sun shines for 24 hours, or nearly 24 hours, ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 4: Rastaban and Eltanin belong
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org One of you asked, "What are constellations?" The answer is that they are just patterns of stars on the sky’s dome. The Greeks and Romans, for example, named them for their gods and goddesses, and for many sorts of animals. In the 20th century, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalized the names and boundaries of the constellations. Now every star in the sky belongs to one or another constellation. The stars within ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 3: See Draco the Dragon and a
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you have a dark sky, you will be able to pick the constellationDraco the Dragon winding around the North Star, Polaris. First, find the Big Dipper high in the north on June evenings. The two outer stars in the Dipper’s bowl point to Polaris, the North Star, which marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. The Little Dipper is relatively faint. If you can find both Dippers, then your sky is probably pretty dark. In ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 2: Little Dipper, Clipped
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org The Little Dipper is an asterism – a star pattern that is not a constellation. The Little Dipper really belongs to the constellation Ursa Minor the Little Bear. Richard Hinkley Allen in his book STAR NAMES Their Lore and Meaning claims the Greek constellation Ursa Minor was never mentioned in the literary works of Homer (9th century B.C.) or Hesiod (8th century B.C.). That is probably because this constellation was not around at ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—- May 25: Mercury at greatest
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet, reaches its greatest morning elongation from the sun tomorrow (Wednesday, May 26). The term greatest elongation specifically applies to inferior planets – the planets that orbit the sun inside of Earth’s orbit: Mercury and Venus. As seen from Earth, Mercury – like a dog on a leash – never strays far from the sun. Mercury only becomes visible in the morning sky when it is ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May 20, First quarter moon – or
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org In the west-southwest this evening, the first-quarter moon hangs below the “Sickle” of the constellation Leo the Lion, and its brightest star, Regulus. Note that the “Sickle” looks like a backward question mark. If you hold your outstretched fist to the right of the moon, it will span the distance to a ruddy “star” – but that’s no star, it’s the planet Mars. Ever since the end of January – when Mars and Earth ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May 19, Moon and Mars close
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org This evening, the rather fat waxing crescent moon sits fairly close to the ruddy planet Mars. Yesterday evening, a somewhat thinner lunar crescent shone closer to the Gemini stars, Castor and Pollux. Tomorrow evening, the first quarter moon will shine more closely to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. The moon, always in motion, continually goes eastward in font of the background stars. It goes full ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May 18, Moon near Mars, Castor,
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org At nightfall, the waxing crescent moon lines up with Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini the Twins. People often refer to these stars as ‘The Twins’ but they aren’t really twins at all. At a distance of about 34 light-years, Pollux wins acclaim as the closest giant star to our solar system. It’s one of the very few giant stars in our galaxy known to harbor a planet. Castor is farther ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May 13, 2010: M13, the Great
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Hercules above the star Vega. Today’s closer view can help you identify the most famous deep-sky object within this constellation. It is a globular star cluster known as M13. Today’s chart shows the location of M13. It is about a third of the distance along a line between the stars Eta and Zeta Hercules. We are not showing you what the cluster looks like on this chart – and in the sky, you’ll see it differently, ... Full Story
