Sun rises at 5:35am
Sun sets at 6:45pm
Moon phase: 2nd quarter moon, gibbous waning
Moon rises at 2:05pm
Moon sets at 2:15am
Last weekend, we considered the moon and its effects on the ocean’s tides, and other things. If you, like me, love to gaze at the moon, this weekend and the coming week are a primetime show worth enjoying with family and friends.
This weekend, don’t miss a lovely sight as the moon and Jupiter pair up in the western evening sky. Jupiter is currently the brightest star-like object in the evening sky. What a sight! The moon and Jupiter pop out first thing at dusk, and they’ll be fun to spot in the darkening sky. A bright star nearby, Spica, in the constellation Virgo, will come into view to the east of the moon and Jupiter as night deepens.
Spica is a first magnitude star meaning it’s one of our sky’s brightest stars, but actually Spica is two stars in one. If Spica were at the sun’s distance from Earth, it’d visually be 1,900 times brighter than our sun. By Sunday night, June 4, you’ll see the moon has moved closer to Spica on the sky’s dome.
Throughout the night, from everyplace worldwide, the moon, planets and stars will go westward across the sky. They go westward throughout the night for the same reason that the sun goes westward during the day: Earth’s west-to-east spin on its rotational axis.
If you watch the moon from day to day, or night to night, you can easily notice its true orbital motion around our planet. This lunar cycle is responsible for its position in the sky and shifts as its shape grows or shrinks. By mid-week, in fact, the moon will have moved past Jupiter, leaving the constellation Virgo to enter the constellation Libra. Then it moves on to the Crown of Scorpius by June 8 as it approaches a rendezvous with the planet Saturn on June 10.
Preview that by looking for Saturn and star Antares this weekend. You’ll find them in the south-eastern half of the sky at nightfall and early evening.
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.
