Moon dominates night sky this weekend
Green and blue areas have the best chance for clear skies tonight, red areas are likely to be cloudy.
With sunset earlier and earlier every night lately, stargazing can begin earlier in the evenings. You can’t miss the moon this weekend. It is in the waxing gibbous phase, so it will be bright through the evening, setting after midnight. But, have a jacket handy if you are outside this evening in the east. It will be one of the chilliest nights so far this season.
AccuWeather Astronomy Facebook friend Lunar 101-Moon Book sees the Waxing gibbous Moon at sunset in Toronto Thursday night.
Even though the moon is bright, you can still see stars and planets. Unfortunately, the moon will mostly wash out the Milky Way which is highest overhead during the evenings this time of year.
The moon will be near the constellation Capricornus tonight.
The big dipper is becoming lower and lower on the horizon. But, you can still see it if you look north. Take a look for the Little Dipper. It is higher in the sky and will appear to “pour” into the Big Dipper. If you find the Little Dipper, you will also find the North Star.
There have has been a lot of aurora activity in recent weeks. No major geomagnetic storms are expected over the next few days. Plus the moon will make it even tougher to view the northern lights.
360 degree panorama of a rare aurora arc cloud known as “Steve” on the left. The classic aurora borealis is shown on the right side of the image. Image credit Alan Dyer on September 27, 2016 near Gleichen, Alberta, via spaceweather.com. Click HERE to see a larger view of the image.
Happy star gazing! Thanks for reading. Just look up, you never know what you will see!
Report a Typo
