Starry Night software/Space.com
This sky map shows the location of Mars, the moon and the bright
star Regulus at 9 p.m. ET on April 3, 2012, to observers at
mid-northern latitudes.
The moon is at it again, this time cuddling in a brilliant
triangle with two other bright lights, Mars and the star Regulus
at about 9 p.m. on April 3.
Not one to sit around, the moon has moved on from its
trysts with Venus and Jupiter earlier this year and tonight
will hook up with Regulus, one of the sky’s brighter lights, and
Mars.
While amorous Venus is off
getting with the Pleiades, the moon will triangulate with
the reddish-orange Mars and bluish Regulus in a fist-sized
triangle, Space.com reports. This will be visible from 8:30 or 9
p.m. on, local time, on April 3, reaching its zenith at about
10:30 p.m. above the southern horizon.
Mars has been up to its own shenanigans this month, making
its
closest approach to earth for the year on March 3, when it
was about 63 million miles away. Now it’s 71 million miles away
and fading as the two planets drift farther apart on their
respective trajectories around the sun. It will fade to about
half its current brightness about a month from now, Space.com
said.
The Red Planet is moving in a backward-looking loop in
retrograde motion for the next two weeks, Space.com said.
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