Sunrise Sunset

Fri., Sept. 5 6:11 7:08

Sat., Sept. 6 6:12 7:07

Sun., Sept. 7 6:13 7:05

Mon., Sept. 8 6:14 7:03

Tues., Sept. 9 6:15 7:02

Wed., Sept. 10 6:16 7:00

Thurs., Sept. 11 6:17 6:58

Fri., Sept. 12 6:18 6:56

A crescent moon appears tonight low in the southwestern sky. The moon is approaching the southern most zodiacal constellation Scorpius. Tomorrow night, the crescent moon appears under the red star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation.

Antares is one of the largest stars a viewer can pick out in the night sky. Antares is gigantic, thousands of times bigger than our Sun. The star is 600 light years away. Which means the light reaching us is 600 years old. If Antares were to replace our sun and be where our Sun resides, the Earth would be well inside the star.

On Tuesday night the moon is gibbous and right under Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius.

Three Planets

The planets Venus, Mars and Mercury appear as a triangle, close to the western horizon each night in the week ahead. Venus is the brightest of the two. Mars and Mercury are tough to spot, but binoculars will help.

Mars is to the left of Venus and quite faint compared to Venus. Mercury is underneath the two. All three are in the zodiacal constellation Virgo. Viewing the planets is tough. There is a very short time after sunset when the sky is dark enough and the three have yet to set in the west.

M.A.L.