The Moon covers Venus<\/a><\/p>\nNow it\u2019s Venus\u2019 turn to close in on the Beehive Cluster (M44), which sparkles in central Cancer. Tonight after sunset, blazing Venus is just 1.3\u00b0 from the center of this loose open cluster, which is visible to the naked eye after dark and looks fantastic in binoculars or a low-power telescope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Beehive Cluster is spread across nearly 100\u2019 of sky and its members shine with a combined magnitude of 3.7. Venus is of course far brighter, a bright pinprick of light at magnitude \u20134.0 just to the right of the cluster in the sky. Tomorrow, Venus will have moved to stand within less than a degree of the cluster, so make sure to return and check out the view yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Moon has meanwhile moved into Leo, which sits immediately east of Cancer on the ecliptic. You will see it tonight to the lower right of the Sickle asterism, whose brightest star \u2014 marking the bottom of the Sickle\u2019s handle \u2014 is magnitude 1.4 Regulus (Alpha [\u03b1] Leonis), the brightest star in all of Leo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As darkness falls, the Sickle should slowly emerge into view. From Regulus, the next star (marking the top of the Sickle\u2019s handle) is Eta (\u03b7) Leo, 4.8\u00b0 due north of Regulus. The blade is outlined by magnitude 2.0 Gamma Leo, 4.3\u00b0 northeast of Eta; magnitude 3.4 Zeta (\u03b6) Leo, 3.7\u00b0 north of Gamma; magnitude 3.9 Mu (\u03bc) Leo, 6\u00b0 northwest of Zeta; and magnitude 3.0 Epsilon (\u03b5) Leo, 2.7\u00b0 southwest of Mu. Many observers think it looks like a backwards question mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sunrise: 5:31 A.M.
Sunset: 8:31 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:28 A.M.
Moonset: 11:46 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (22%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.<\/p>\n
Saturn rules the early-morning sky, shining at 1st magnitude in otherwise dim Pisces the Fish. One of the ringed planet\u2019s many moons, Dione, passes due north of Saturn the morning of June 19. The 10th-magnitude moon\u2019s progress is visible if you\u2019ve got a dark sky and a telescope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\t\tTwo hours before sunrise in the Central time zone, Dione is still approaching Saturn from the northeast. The small moon will pass due north of Saturn about two hours after this, shortly before 4:30 A.M. PDT. Note that 12th-magnitude Enceladus may not be visible. Credit: Alison Klesman (via TheSkyX)<\/p>\n
Two hours before sunrise, Saturn is nearly 20\u00b0 high in the east. It\u2019s easy to find as the brightest light in this part of the sky, skimming the border between southern Pisces and northern Cetus. Through a telescope, you\u2019ll of course see Saturn\u2019s stunning ring system, and should also easily pick up its largest and brightest moon, Titan, just northwest of the planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dione \u2014 again, magnitude 10 \u2014 is much closer to the planet than Titan and lies northeast of Saturn. As the hours pass, it draws closer, passing due north of Saturn shortly before 4:30 A.M. PDT \u2014 note the time zone, as at this point the planet and moon will only be visible along the U.S. West Coast. The farther west you are, the better, as the sky is likely already growing light. See if you can identify Dione roughly an arcsecond above the planet\u2019s north pole, despite the slowly brightening twilight; you might also try snapping a quick photo if you\u2019ve got the setup, as that may show Dione\u2019s position even if your eyes can\u2019t find it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alison Klesman\u00a0is senior editor of\u00a0Astronomy\u00a0magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List Our satellite sits near the Sickle asterism in Leo the Lion this evening, while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[70135,79,169673],"class_list":["post-713159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-observing","tag-science","tag-sky-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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