We will have a full moon in the coming week. The Snow Moon, as the Old Farmer’s Almanac calls it, arrives on Monday night. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Leo and it is near the constellation’s principle star Regulus. Regulus is a star we more often associate with spring and early summer.

There will be a spectacle on Thursday night, when the gibbous moon appears next to one of the brightest stars of the night, Spica, in the zodiacal constellation Virgo. The two are going to be so close, as to almost touch.

Say Goodbye to Mars

For most of last year Mars glowed in the sky like a ruby. It was especially bright early last year. This has all changed.

Mars is now so close to the western horizon at the end of the day it is only viewable for a short time, before it sinks behind the horizon, less than an hour after the sun.

The conditions for observing Mars have to be just right. It is just too close to the horizon at sunset, and too close to the sun. It gets worse in the weeks ahead. We should say goodbye to the planet for a while but it will reappear in our early morning sky late next summer. Stay tuned.

M.A.L.