Today:
Flanked to its right by Spica, a slender, waxing Crescent Moon slides low above the southwestern horizon this evening, with the tips of its horns nearly vertical. This gives the appearance that the Moon cannot “hold water”, and therefore gives us the weather saying, “when the Moon cannot hold water, expect rain.”
Thursday:
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.