Today:
The First Quarter Moon starts its monthly appearance high in the south at 7:00 PM, while a little daylight lingers. Two hours later the Moon has shifted slightly lower into the southwest. In the last hint of dusk, stars and planets have appeared, showing the Moon to have shifted to the left of Jupiter, its companion last evening.
Friday:
The now Gibbous Moon presides over a more tightly knit collection of bright objects in the west, by around 9:15 PM. Jupiter, forming a triangle with Pollux and Castor, heads of the Gemini Twins, jis wice as high as the sinking Orion in the west. To the left of the Moon, the star Regulus awaits its redezvous with our sliver, cratered companion.
Saturday:
Tonight Leo catches up to the Moon. So much so, in fact, that Regulus will briefly disappear behind the Moon in much of the continental U.S. But such an occultation will be a near miss for those of us in New England. Regulus will pass just barely over the top of the Moon at around 9:30 PM. Although slowly, Regulus will then slip farther and farther to the Moon’s west for the rest of the night, as both drop to western horizon at around 3:20 AM.