Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Moon Over Venus With Spica

Looking like it might be clear tonight...if so, get out and check out the waxing crescent moon above bright Venus tonight. As it gets a little darker you should be able to make out a star to the left of those two forming a triangle (yes, unless in a line, 3 objects always form a triangle)and that is Spica in Virgo.
Want to check out more? Look well above and north of that grouping to find the Big Dipper, looking like a dipper these days. Follow the arc of the dipper's handle around to quite bright, Arcturus (arc to Arcturus) and then spike straight down to Spica.
Following the path the sun took today (the ecliptic) to the upper left of the Moon and Venus is Jupiter, keep curving around to golden-ish Saturn and continue your curve on to the east to find very bight and very red, Mars. High above Mars in the east you can find the stars of the Summer Triangle. After the moon and Venus are down and it's dark you can see (if it's truly dark where you are) the Milky Way, flowing through the triangle. The lowest star in the triangle is Deneb, the tail of Cygnus the Swan; the swan is flying along the Milky Way. While you can imagine a swan, you might also see why Cygnus is called the Northern Cross.
No rain, no clouds, get out and check out the sky, Tonight on Earth.
Go out late...hang in a lounge chair for a bit and you'll likely see some left over Perseid meteors!! Bonus!!

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