Sunday night the crescent moon shines within a few degrees of Antares, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. The two appear in the southwestern sky about an hour after sunset and you can watch them for an hour or more before they both set in the west.

On Monday night, the moon advances to first quarter phase and appears in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius, another southern constellation.

Scorpius and Sagitarius are the zodiac’s southern most constellations in the ecliptic. We know these constellations well in the coldest months of the year. In December and January, when our brilliant sun resides in either of these two constellation, our days are short and our nights are long.

Just like the moon this weekend, the winter sun is low in our southern sky and doesn’t get up very high before setting in the west.