In the Sky This Month

The Moon cozies up to Regulus, the star that represents the heart of the lion, this evening. The encounter is especially close as seen from the United States, with the Moon and Regulus appearing to almost touch each other.

The planet Mars is close to the upper left of the Moon at nightfall. It looks like a fairly bright orange star. The true star Regulus, which is the brightest star of the constellation Leo, is farther along that line.

The crescent Moon is in the west at nightfall. The twin stars of Gemini stand to its lower right, with Mars far to its upper left. Mars looks like a moderately bright star.

The star cluster Messier 13 is in Hercules, which is high in the east at nightfall. Under dark skies, the cluster is just visible to the unaided eye. It looks like a faint, fuzzy star. M13 is about 25,000 light-years away. It contains up to 500,000 stars.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, stands below the Moon in the early evening twilight. It looks like a bright star. Jupiter is so low in the sky, however, that you need a clear horizon to spot it.

The subtle glow of the Milky Way hugs the eastern horizon in late evening. It will arc high overhead at first light tomorrow, stretching from northeast to southwest. The hazy band of stars outlines the flat disk of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

One of the major beauties of the summer sky dangles in the northeast this evening like a piece of jewelry: the constellation Lyra. Its brightest star is Vega, which is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky. It sparkles like the diamond stud in an earring.

The stars Tania Borealis and Tania Australis represent the second leap of the gazelle, from the skylore of Arabia. At nightfall, They are to the left of the stars that form the outer edge of the Big Dipper’s bowl.

A gazelle leaps past the feet of the great bear. In ancient skylore it made three leaps, each marked by a pair of stars. The stars of the first jump are Alula Borealis and Alula Australis. As night falls, they are high in the northwest, far to the left of the Big Dipper.

The planet Venus reigns as the dazzling Morning Star. Tomorrow, it appears close to the right of the crescent Moon at dawn. Venus is the second planet from the Sun, while Earth is third. As a result, Venus passes closer to us than any other planet.