Sun rises at 5:40am
Sun sets at 6:51pm
Moon phase: first quarter moon, waxing
Moon rises Sunday at 1:40pm
Moon sets Saturday at 12:55am
This weekend, enjoy the magnificent grouping of the moon, Jupiter and the bright star Spica in the western sky just after darkness falls. At the quarter moon phase, either first or third quarter, we see half the moon’s disk is illuminated by sunlight and the other visible half of the moon is immersed by the moon’s own shadow. It’s confusing for novice sky-watchers, because we see half a moon but we call it a quarter moon. It’s a quarter moon because, in its full cycle of phases, the moon is one quarter the way from one new moon to the next.
The lunar terminator is the shadow line crossing between the moon’s day and night sides. If you were standing on the moon, right on that terminator line, you would be watching either a sunrise or a sunset against the lunar horizon. I have included an image of the half-illuminated earth for reference.
Once you have pondered the mysteries of the first quarter moon, turn around and look east to see another three brilliant celestial bodies, they appear as bright “stars” – Altair, Vega and the planet Saturn. Use a telescope or a pair of good binoculars to examine each of these dazzlers. You should easily determine which one is Saturn, as its magnified image is that of a flat-looking disc. On closer examination, you should make out the rings around the planet and even some of its many moons. When Galileo first turned his telescope to the sky, he found that Saturn was something quite different from anything else he could see in the sky. He described the rings as ears at first. That’s right, he was like, “Whoa, Saturn’s got ears!” Okay, we paraphrased the great man just a bit – but you get the idea. And that was more than 400 years ago, so your modern scope should easily see what he was able to detect!
Later, closer to midnight, Saturn lies due south and Jupiter is setting in the west, the moon following closely behind. Once the moon sets, the stars will be more pronounced against the black velvet sky and you may be able to see that Saturn is sitting amid the Milky Way Galaxy, a trail of textured light emanating from the countless stars of our own galaxy. Looking at the Milky Way is like seeing your own nose or cheek, without a mirror to allow some perspective. You see it there, but the image is somewhat distorted. If we could get out of the Milky Way Galaxy and look back at it – the perspective would grant us a beautiful vision, a spiralling collection of stars, shrouded in the mystery that is our celestial address.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
