dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (08/05/84)
The young moon is back in the west after sunset. More on what else is there -- right after this. July 29 View in the West If you look outside after sunset Sunday evening -- if the view to the west is clear -- you'll see a very young moon near the planet Mercury and the star Regulus. Mercury and Regulus have been in this part of the sky for some weeks -- but they won't be there much longer. Both the planet and the star are about to disappear into the glow of twilight in the western evening sky. The moon, on the other hand, is back in the west after sunset -- due to be there for the next week or so -- waxing, or growing larger, with each passing day. Sunday evening is a good time to look for the moon and Mercury and Regulus, because then the moon is not very far past new -- past the instant when it passed closest to a line between the Earth and sun. Now the sunlit half of the moon faces mostly away from Earth -- so that the crescent visible in the west after sunset Sunday evening is very slim -- and very pretty. If it's already too late, though, or if your sky is cloudy on Sunday, look again on Monday. Then the moon won't be so close to Mercury and Regulus -- instead, you'll see those two below the moon, fairly bright -- near each other and the western horizon. To tell the planet from the star, look for the slightly brighter object -- that'll be Mercury. Or if you're not sure which one is brighter, then as you face west, look for Mercury on your left. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin