The moon dominates the early hours of evening in the southwestern sky.

On Sunday night the first quarter moon enters the zodiacal constellation Virgo. It takes three days for the moon to pass through this large and long constellation.

On Tuesday night the gibbous moon appears near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation and the principal star in Virgo. It has a blueish white tint. Spica is actually two stars or, in other words, a binary star. These two stars are too close together to be seen separately in a telescope. They orbit each other in four days.

On Wednesday night the moon is near the bright planet Saturn which is on the edge of the constellations Libra and Virgo. Saturn is high in the southern sky for much of the evening. If you are looking around midnight, the planet is in the western sky.

First Day of Summer

Summer arrives officially in the wee hours of Friday, June 21 at 1:04 a.m. We’ve already had the flavors of summer this month. The temperature has reached 85 and we have experienced the passing remnants of a tropical storm and at least one loud thunderstorm.