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Friday, March 29, 2024

Posts Tagged ‘Spica’

Earthsky Tonight — April 24, Waxing gibbous moon

Earthsky Tonight — April 24, Waxing gibbous moon pairs with Saturn

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the oval-shaped waxing gibbous moon shines close the ringed planet Saturn. At this time yesterday, a somewhat thinner waxing gibbous moon shone close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. Why has the moon moved? The fact is that – every day – the moon travels about 13 degrees eastward in front of the backdrop stars. (The moon’s diameter equals about 1/2 degree, and your fist held at an ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — April 18, Spica, your guide star

Earthsky Tonight — April 18, Spica, your guide star to Omega Centauri

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Silvery-blue Spica, the only prominent star in the constellation Virgo, acts as your guide to the Omega Centauri globular star cluster. To the unaided eye, Omega Centauri looks like a fairly faint (and possibly fuzzy) star. Very few of the Milky Way galaxy’s 250 or so globular clusters are readily visible without optics. To find Spica, extend the curve of the Big Dipper handle, as illustrated on our April 4 EarthSky Tonight. ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — April 4, 2010: Drive a spike to

Earthsky Tonight — April 4, 2010: Drive a spike to Spica

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Notice that we have shrunk the scale of today’s chart, in order to take in a wide sweep of sky, from northeast to southeast. Tonight, let the Big Dipper introduce you to another bright star. This star is Spica in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. If you are outside this evening, you can follow the arc to Arcturus and drive a spike to Spica. In other words, today’s chart shows a wide sweep of sky, from northeast to ... Full Story

Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright

Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright and beautiful stars

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright and beautiful stars, Arcturus and Spica. Sparkling above the eastern horizon at early to mid evening, these stars travel westward (along with the moon) throughout the night, and stand high in your southern sky in the wee hours after midnight. As dawn starts to color the sky, these gems light up the western sky. In early spring, these two springtime stars shine all night ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March 29, 2010 Full moon near

Earthsky Tonight — March 29, 2010 Full moon near Saturn

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the full moon beams between the golden planet Saturn and sparkling blue-white Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. For the northern hemisphere, this is the first full moon of spring – or the first to follow the March 20 spring equinox. The first springtime moon is commonly called the Egg Moon, Grass Moon or Easter Moon. The moon turns precisely full tonight at 9:25 p.m. Central Daylight ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March, 26, 2010: Moon swings

Earthsky Tonight — March, 26, 2010: Moon swings close to Regulus

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Can you find the star that is shining close to the big and bright waxing gibbous moon tonight? That is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. Regulus is the only first-magnitude star to sit almost exactly on the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the Earth’s orbital plane projected outward onto the sphere of stars. The ecliptic is often shown on sky charts, because the moon and planets are always found on or ... Full Story

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