moon – Astronomy Now

Expert astronomy: watch the Moon occult Venus

18 June 2020 Mark Armstrong

The Moon occults Venus on the morning of Friday 19 June in an exciting and quite rare event, which can be observed across the whole of the UK through a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.

Here’s your chance to spot Mercury, as it cosies up to Venus this weekend

21 May 2020 Mark Armstrong

Look to the north-west this evening (21 May), soon after sunset, to enjoy a spectacular coming together of brilliant Venus and shy and elusive Mercury.

Detailed Moon map provides high-resolution ‘blueprint’ for lunar geology

28 April 2020 Astronomy Now

A new Moon map provides an updated, remarkably detailed view of lunar surface geology, merging Apollo-era data with more recent observations and resolving inconsistencies in earlier maps.

Star Epsilon (ε) Tauri plays hide and seek with the crescent Moon on 29 March

19 March 2020 Ade Ashford

On Sunday, 29 March around civil dusk, observers throughout the British Isles with suitably steadied binoculars and small telescopes can watch naked-eye star Epsilon (ε) Tauri disappear behind the darkened hemisphere of the almost 5-day-old waxing crescent Moon, reappearing again slightly more than an hour later. Here’s our where and when guide to viewing it.

See the old Moon join a dawn planetary parade, 18–19 March

11 March 2020 Ade Ashford

If you’re an early riser in the British Isles, let the waning crescent Moon be your guide to three naked-eye planets – Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – at dawn on 18 and 19 March 2020. This celestial conjunction occurs in the constellation of Sagittarius where you can see all four Solar System bodies within the span of a fist at arm’s length. Look for attractive binocular conjunctions too.

See the crescent Moon meet Venus at dusk, 26–28 February

19 February 2020 Ade Ashford

For three evenings from 26–28 February 2020, observers in Western Europe including the British Isles can watch the waxing crescent Moon’s changing configuration with brightest planet Venus in the west-southwest at dusk. The pair are closest for UK-based observers on the evening of Thursday, 27 February, simultaneously visible in low-power binoculars.

Venus dazzles at dusk and closes in on Neptune

13 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Even casual skywatchers cannot fail to notice brightest planet Venus currently hanging like a lantern above the southwest horizon at dusk. But as Venus moves eastwards through Aquarius on successive nights, it draws closer to outermost (and faintest) planet Neptune until the pair reach a particularly close conjunction on the UK evening of Monday, 27 January.

See the Moon buzz the Beehive Cluster in the small hours of 12 January

9 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Observers in the UK with a clear sky high to the south-southeast shortly after midnight on Sunday, 12 January 2020 can see the 16-day-old waning gibbous Moon just three-quarters of a degree north of the beautiful open star cluster Messier 44, otherwise known as Praesepe, or the Beehive Cluster.

Watch the Moon hide naked-eye star Tejat in Gemini on 9 January

5 January 2020 Ade Ashford

Magnitude +2.9 star Mu (μ) Geminorum, better nown as Tejat in the constellation of Gemini, is occulted (hidden) by the rising 13-day-old waxing gibbous Moon early on the evening of Thursday, 9 January 2020 as seen from the entire British Isles. This is a spectacle for small telescopes and large binoculars, the first bright lunar occultation of a busy year for such events.

Moonlight challenges Leonid meteor shower maximum on 18 November

15 November 2019 Ade Ashford

The maximum of the annual Leonid meteor shower is predicted for 11pm GMT (23h UT) on Monday, 18 November 2019. However, the famously swift, bright Leonids — some leaving persistent trails — will have to contend with the glare of a 21-day-old waning gibbous Moon close by visible from 9:30pm GMT to dawn on the 19^th.