Last Week's Stargazing Tips
The sky is full of wonders every night of the week. Use our viewing guide for the week ahead to plan your backyard outings.
May 16, 2008
The Moon and the star Spica stage quite an encounter tonight. At their closest, during early evening, just a couple of degrees will separate them, with Spica to the Moon's left or upper left. They will remain together as they wheel across the south later on.
May 15, 2008
Corona Borealis, the northern crown, stands almost halfway up the eastern sky as darkness falls this evening. It forms a small semicircle of moderately bright stars that opens to the left. It is topped by a binary star system known as Alphecca.
May 14, 2008
The Moon is in its "gibbous" phase now, which means that sunlight illuminates more than half of the lunar hemisphere that faces our way. The dark portion of the lunar disk is in the Moon's own shadow, so it's night on that part of our satellite world.
May 13, 2008
The constellation Virgo glides across the south on spring nights. Look for its brightest star, blue-white Spica, well up in the southeast at nightfall, and due south a couple of hours later.
May 12, 2008
Saturn and Regulus are to the upper right of the Moon at nightfall. Saturn is brighter, and it shines with a distinctly golden hue. Regulus, the "heart" of Leo, the lion, looks white.
May 11, 2008
The planet Saturn is in good view tonight. It is east of the Moon, and looks like a bright golden star. It's close to the true star Regulus, the heart of Leo. Good binoculars or a telescope will reveal Saturn's largest moon, Titan, as a tiny star near Saturn.
May 10, 2008
The Moon, Mars, and the twins of Gemini form a bright arc in the west tonight. They are quite high in the sky at nightfall. Mars is to the lower right of the Moon at nightfall, with the twins of Gemini, Pollux and Castor, to the lower right of Mars.
Unless otherwise specified, viewing times are local time regardless of time zone, and are good for the entire Lower 48 states (and, generally, for Alaska and Hawaii).
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