dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (09/12/85)
Mars appears between a star and the moon tomorrow morning. More -- in a minute. September 12 Regulus, Mars and the Moon If you're up before dawn tomorrow morning, look for a star, a planet and the moon near each other in the east -- the crescent moon, the planet Mars, and the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo. When you look in the east before dawn, you'll probably notice another planet before the three objects we just mentioned. Venus is a very bright point of light high in the eastern predawn sky. The old crescent moon will be closer to the eastern horizon than Venus. Its sunlit side will look like a silver bowl. The planet Mars and the star Regulus will be very near the moon on Friday -- just above and to the right of it as you face east. Mars will be reddish in color -- and closer to the moon than Regulus. As you look at these three objects -- the moon, Mars, and Regulus -- remember that in reality they are very far apart. Sunlight reflected from moon takes about a second to travel to Earth. Mars -- now far across the solar system from Earth -- is about twenty light-minutes away. But starlight from Regulus has been coming our way for eighty-five years. So these objects are really very far apart -- but they appear close together on the dome of our sky Friday morning. You'll need a clear eastern horizon before dawn to see them. Look for reddish Mars in between the thin crescent moon and the bright point of light that is Regulus. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin