dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (06/02/85)
Tonight the star Antares can be seen near the full moon. More -- after this. June 2 Antares and the Moon Sunday night the moon is full. It's full because it's opposite the sun in space -- and its fully lighted half faces us. The full moon rises when the sun goes down -- is highest in the sky at midnight -- and sets right around dawn. There's another prominent object in our sky also opposite the sun right now. It's a star -- bright red Antares -- the heart of the scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. Antares reaches its own opposition around the end of May. Since it's generally opposite the sun now, and since the moon is opposite the sun tonight -- Antares tonight is near the moon. You can identify Antares easily Sunday night as the bright red star in the moon's vicinity. Around midnight, when both star and moon are highest in the sky, those with a clear view to the south can pick out the rest of the constellation Scorpius. This is one constellation that really looks like the creature for which it was named. Antares is located at the heart of the scorpion. The tail of the scorpion consists of a curved line of stars -- really reminiscent of a live scorpion's curly tail. And while out there looking at Antares and the moon, you might notice a bright golden object nearby. That object looks more like Antares -- like a point of light on the dome of the sky -- but it really has more in common with the moon. It's the planet Saturn -- a world in our solar system -- now just past its own opposition -- and visible Sunday night westward from Antares and the moon. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin