Today:
A low, level view to the southwest shows that the Crescent Moon is now drifting farther away from the blue star Spica, and the two won’t rendezvous again until doing so during predawn hours in November and December. Spica is one of four bright stars the Moon tracks near each month, but the timing, and the Moon’s phase changes as the Earth’s orbit changes our viewing location.
Friday:
Saturn is now rising near the end of twilight, at 8:30 in the east, and slides higher into the east-southeast, one quarter of the way into the heavens by 10:30. Saturn’s great distance means it takes decades to orbit the Sun, which means we see it in nearly the same place for months. That means the Earth’s orbit creates most of the changes we see, as Saturn rises about 4 minutes earlier each evening.
Saturday:
The Moon’s cycle of 29 and a half days, being less than a calendar month, ends this month as it began. Having cycled back to its first quarter phase, it is half illuminated, and appears in the south-southwest at darkness falls. It has also circled back into the neighborhood of the red-orange srtar Antares, the heart of the Scorpion, Antares appearing to the left of our silvery neighbor.