The moon had a close encounter with Mars last week and is now moving into the space between the evening and morning planets. On Monday, July 7, the moon will meet the bright star Antares, which represents the heart of the scorpion constellation.
To observe this pairing, look for the gibbous moon rising in the east about two hours before sunset. After sunset, Antares will be visible to the upper right of the moon. The red super-giant star is 550 light-years away and shines with a brightness of over 10,000 times that of our sun.
Antares is part of a binary star system, with a smaller, hotter blue-white star orbiting at a distance of about 50 billion miles from its companion. This massive star has a profound effect on the formation of planets in our solar system, potentially displacing Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars from their orbits.
As the pair moves across the southern sky, Antares will set in advance of the moon, which will set just after three o’clock on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, brilliant Venus is shining in the eastern sky, forming a nice pairing with Antares for a short time.
Later in the week, Venus will move into position with the bright star Aldebaran, representing the eye of the bull in the constellation Taurus. On Saturday, July 12, Venus will take up a position above Aldebaran, outshining it by 100 times when viewed from Earth.
In other celestial news, Jupiter is rapidly entering the morning sky and can be seen before sunrise by the end of the week. Mercury is also making an impressive showing in the evening sky, with Saturn rising high in the east as we approach the giant ringed planet.
Astronomical times for this weekend include:
– Sun Set: 8:20 p.m.
– Mercury Set: 9:47 p.m.
– Mars Set: 11:19 p.m.
– Saturn Rise: 12:11 a.m.
– Moon Set: 2:02 a.m.
– Jupiter Rise: 5:07 a.m.
Source: https://worldjournalnewspaper.com/stellar-pairings-in-the-morning-and-evening