Earthsky Tonight—June 6: Mars and Regulus in conjunction
The planet Mars and the star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, highlight their conjunction this evening.
Earthsky Tonight—June 5: Moon and Jupiter pair up before sunrise
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…
Earthsky Tonight—June 4: Rastaban and Eltanin belong to constellation Draco
The stars within constellations are not connected, except in the mind’s eye of stargazers. The stars in general lie at vastly different distances from Earth. It is by finding juxtaposed…
Earthsky Tonight—June 3: See Draco the Dragon and a former pole star
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…
Earthsky Tonight—June 2: Little Dipper, Clipped wings of Draco the Dragon
According to the Greek geographer and historian Strabo (63 B.C. to A.D. 21?) these seven stars did not make up Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) until 600 B.C. or so.…
Earthsky Tonight—- May 25: Mercury at greatest morning elongation on May 26
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…
Earthsky Tonight—May 20, First quarter moon – or ‘half moon’ – near Regulus and Mars
Ever since the end of January – when Mars and Earth were closest to each other – our planet has been pulling away from the Red Planet in our planet’s…
Earthsky Tonight—May 19, Moon and Mars close together
The moon, always in motion, continually goes eastward in font of the background stars. It goes full circle (360 degrees) relative to the stars every 27 and 1/3 days.
Earthsky Tonight—May 18, Moon near Mars, Castor, Pollux
At nightfall, the waxing crescent moon lines up with Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini the Twins.
Earthsky Tonight—May 13, 2010: M13, the Great Cluster in Hercules
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.