dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (01/04/86)
The moon is now in a region of the sky that`s rich with bright planets and stars. More -- in a moment. January 4 Mars and the Moon The next few mornings are good days to get up early -- to seek out the moon in the predawn sky. The moon is now moving through a region of the sky crowded with bright stars and planets. Sunday morning, you can find the planet Mars near the moon. It'll be a reddish point of light to the left of the waning crescent. Mars now appears very near the star Alpha in the constellation Libra. During the next few days you can watch Mars move a little closer to Alpha Librae on the dome of our sky. So that`s Sunday morning -- the moon near the planet Mars and the little star Alpha Librae. There are some much brighter stars around in that part of the sky as well. Spica is above and to the right of the moon Sunday morning. Saturn is below and to the left. And the star Antares -- the heart of the scorpion in the constellation Scorpius -- is below Saturn. The moon always moves toward the east in its orbit around Earth. So for each of the next few mornings, it will appear lower in the eastern predawn sky. Each morning the lunar crescent will be slimmer than it was the day before. By Tuesday morning the moon will appear as a very slim crescent -- sandwiched between Antares and Saturn in the eastern predawn sky. But that`s Wednesday. If you're up before dawn tomorrow -- take a look towards the southeast for Mars and the star Alpha Librae near the moon. Script by Diana Hadley and Deborah Byrd (c) Copyright 1985, 1986 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin