Watch out for the conjunction of the Moon, Saturn, Mars and bright star Spica tonight

25 Jul 2012

What the moon looks like today. Image credit U.S Naval Observatory

Stargazers who are hoping to catch a glimpse of the waxing crescent moon that will be part of a quadruple conjunction with the planets Saturn and Mars and the bright star Spica tonight can also tune into the online space camera Slooh if they can’t feast their eyes on the celestial event using a telescope or the naked eye.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory had been encouraging people to take a step outside yesterday evening and this evening for the event in which the waxing moon will be pairing up with Mars, Saturn and Virgo’s star Spica.

The first-quarter Moon will be left of Spica and Saturn this evening and stargazers around the globe have been waxing lyrical about event.

According to Space.com the moon will be a waxing crescent rather than a waning crescent and it will be taking centre stage with Mars and Saturn and the bright star Spica, which is the brightest star in the Virgo constellation.

Spica is 260 light years away from Earth. The Latin name Spica translates as ‘ear of corn’. Apparently the star is the sixteenth brightest star in the sky, after Antares in Scorpius.

Slooh will be covering the event live from the Canary Islands via its online space telescope in less than four hours.

Moon with Mars, Saturn, Spica on 25 July 2012

Image courtesy of Space.com

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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