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UNITED KINGDOM – SEPTEMBER 11: First Quarter moon of April 11, 2011 at 21:37 hours. (Photo by Jamie Cooper\/SSPL\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
SSPL via Getty Images <\/p>\n
On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 3, skywatchers will be treated to a close encounter between two of the sky\u2019s brightest nighttime objects. Just after sunset, the waxing crescent moon will appear directly beneath the red supergiant star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. This striking pairing, part of a repeating cycle, will be easy to spot with the naked eye.<\/p>\n
Where And When To Look<\/p>\n
Look to the southwest after sunset on Aug. 3, and as twilight deepens, you\u2019ll see the moon glowing brightly, with Antares positioned just above it. The two will be close \u2014 less than a few degrees apart \u2014 and will sink slowly toward the horizon over the next couple of hours.<\/p>\n
What You\u2019ll See<\/p>\n
The pairing of Antares and a 72%-lit waxing gibbous moon will be visible from most of the world, but a clear, unobstructed view of the southwestern sky will enhance your chances of catching them before they set.<\/p>\n
Antares means means \u201crival to Mars\u201d due to its red-orange tint and the fact that Mars passes it in the night sky every few years, causing confusion. It\u2019s a massive supergiant star located about 550 light-years from Earth and shines at magnitude 1.1.<\/p>\n
The closeness of Antares and the moon is no fluke. The moon regularly passes close to a set of bright stars that lie along the ecliptic \u2014 the same path it follows across the sky each month \u2014 those stars being Antares (in Scorpius), Aldebaran (in Taurus), Regulus (in Leo), and Spica (in Virgo).<\/p>\n
Sunday, August 3: Moon And Antares<\/p>\n
Stellarium <\/p>\n
Observing Tips<\/p>\n
Most people immediately think of a telescope when they think about astronomy. It\u2019s not necessary for this event. You\u2019ll see much more just by using your naked eyes. However, a pair of binoculars is always useful when stargazing, allowing you not only to zoom in \u2014 particularly on the lunar surface \u2014 but also to better see the color of stars, such as Antares. It will look red, though since it\u2019s so low, its light may be distorted by Earth\u2019s atmosphere, so could flash a variety of colors, such as yellow and white.<\/p>\n
Choose an observing location with a clear, unobstructed view to the eastern horizon, if possible, away from city lights \u2014 though light pollution makes zero difference when observing the planets, the moon and particularly bright stars.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Next In The Night Sky<\/p>\n
August is perfect for finding Vega, the brilliant anchor of the Summer Triangle, high in the southeast after dark. Also coming up is the full sturgeon moon on Aug. 9 and the Perseid meteor shower peak \u2014 though hampered by moonlight \u2014 on the nights of Aug. 12-13. The best nights for \u201cshooting stars\u201d could actually come later, around Aug. 15. There\u2019s also a close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on Aug. 12.<\/p>\n
For exact timings, use a sunrise and sunset calculator<\/a> for where you are, Stellarium Web<\/a> for a sky chart and Night Sky Tonight: Visible Planets at Your Location<\/a> for positions and rise\/set times for planets.<\/p>\n Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UNITED KINGDOM – SEPTEMBER 11: First Quarter moon of April 11, 2011 at 21:37 hours. (Photo by Jamie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[27278,800,49,48,17214,27280,6294,27281,17215,66,27279,6299],"class_list":{"0":"post-36912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-antares","9":"tag-astronomy","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-full-moon","13":"tag-lunar","14":"tag-moon","15":"tag-next-full-moon","16":"tag-night-sky","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-scorpius","19":"tag-stargazing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}