The week begins with the Moon in an ultraslim waning crescent phase just shy of
new, that phase passed on Saturday, June 25. For the remainder of
the week, the Moon will grow as a waxing crescent,
the first
quarter not to be met until July 3. If you have a clear
horizon, the very thin crescent will be visible low in the west-
northwest in bright twilight the evening of Monday the 26th. Look
for Mercury
rather well to the left. By the next night, Tuesday the 27th, the
slightly fatter crescent will fall to the right of Saturn and
above Mercury, while the following evening (Wednesday the 28th),
the growing Moon will lie just above fainter Mars, these
planets making a lovely setting for the partially illuminated lunar
disk, whose nighttime side will be aglow with Earthlight. The night of Thursday the 29th,
look for the Moon to the right of Leo's
Regulus.
Mars and Saturn had their long-anticipated conjunction last
Saturday, the 17th. Mars, closer and faster-moving than Saturn,
has now pulled well to the east of the ringed planet. Saturn,
which now sets around 10:30 PM Daylight Time, will be gone from
view toward the end of July. Mars currently sets right after
Saturn. Keeping better orbital pace with Earth, however, the red planet will be seen in
bright twilight well into August. With these planets slowly
disappearing, the night sky then belongs to very bright Jupiter, which hangs out in far western Libra about two-thirds of the way
from Spica in Virgo to Libra's Zubenelgenubi. Crossing the meridian to the south about half an hour
after sunset, the planet dominates the south and southwestern sky
until it sets around 2:30 AM. After a brief hiatus with no naked-
eye planets (though sixth-magnitude Uranus in Aquarius is technically naked-eye, it is
tough to find), Venus enters the eastern scene just as morning
twilight commences about 3:30 AM. The brilliant planet rather
nicely tracks dawn until September, at which point it will begin to
disappear into bright twilight.
Bright, kite-shaped Bootes (well
marked by orange Arcturus),
which rides nearly overhead in early evening, begins a wonderful
parade of five constellations. Progressively to the east and
northeast of the Herdsman, find Corona
Borealis (the northern Crown), Hercules, Lyra (the
Harp or Lyre) with Vega, and finally
Cygnus (the Swan) with Deneb marking its tail. By the
morning hours it is the Swan that flies high, when dark moonless
skies allow us to see the glorious Milky Way.
