Today:
This evening, almost exactly as the Sun sets, the Full “Pink” Moon rises in the east. By 9:15 PM, you can glimpse the steely-blue star Spica, having risen below the Moon and to its left. The Moon will encounter Spica much more closely tomorrow night. This Full Moon is known as the “Pink” Moon after the wild pink ground phlox, native to areas farther south than here [New England?]. The Moon becomes perfectly Full at 10:11 PM
Thursday:
Rising around 6:15 PM in the east-southeast, the Moon is still more than 99% illuminated. This time the bluish star Spica appears much closer to the Moon, barely above and to the Moon’s left. But this closeness is a matter of perspective. Although Spica looks close to the Moon tonight, the star is really 220 light years away. A good deal farther to the east, the reddish star Arcturus looks on, Arcturus being “only” 36 light years distant.
Friday:
While the Moon, just two days past Full, continues to bathe the skies with moonlight, the western skies play host to several bright objects capable of competing with the lunar glow. These include the bright stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Capella. High in the western sky is Jupiter. Now positioned squarely between the Gemini Twins, Jupiter will drift slowly to the left, toward Pollux, for the rest of the month.