Tonight—June 15, 2016—search your skies to see a lovely trio formed by the moon, Mars, and the star Spica!
From dusk tonight, to the wee hours of tomorrow morning, these three buddies will be sailing across our southern skies. The Red Planet will be blazing to the east of the moon. And Spica, a bright bluish-white star, will be shining just west of the moon. Together, the three of them will form a sort of “squashed triangle”, as seen in the image below.
Spica is actually a fairly famous star, and a favorite among stargazers. With an apparent magnitude of around 1, it’s among the brightest in the night sky. You can easily locate it by following this phrase: “Follow the arc to Arcturus, and speed to Spica”. The “arc” of the Big Dipper’s handle points to a reddish-orange star called Arcturus. An imaginary line continued past Arcturus, for roughly the same distance, will take you straight to Spica.
