Venus, Moon & Regulus: Stargazing Alignment

See Venus, the crescent Moon, and Regulus align before sunrise. A rare naked-eye stargazing opportunity! Best views from eastern North America. Look east-northeast.

Jamie Carter is a self-employed reporter and routine Online Scientific research factor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie consistently composes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Scientific Research, BBC Wild animals publication and Scientific American, and numerous others. He edits WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.

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Rare Celestial Alignment

The moon will much outshine everything, complied with by dazzling Venus and then Regulus, which will certainly appear pale by contrast.

Venus and Regulus will certainly be close by, although their precise locations overhead will depend on your perspective. On the east coast of North America, stargazers will see a virtually perfect alignment of the crescent moon, Venus and Regulus in a straight line covering hardly a level of skies. On the west shore of North America, it will certainly be more of a close clustering, with an obscure triangle created by the moon, Venus and Regulus.

Best Viewing Conditions

One of the most effective naked-eye stargazing views of the year gets on deal to skywatchers today– if you can rise prior to the sun Friday (Sept. 19). Just before sunrise, the crescent moon, the fantastic earth Venus and the intense celebrity Regulus (the brightest star in the constellation Leo) will certainly gather together on the east-northeast horizon.

Noticeable reduced in the eastern sky regarding 90 minutes before sunrise, the waning crescent moon will have to do with 6% lit up. The slender moon itself will be a gorgeous sight, thanks to the reward “Earthshine”– the sunlight’s light mirroring off Planet back onto the moon to illuminate its dark side. The spectacular sight will show up both to the nude eye and in easy daydreaming field glasses.

Brightness and Visibility

The slim moon itself will be a lovely view, many thanks to the perk “Earthshine”– the sunlight’s light mirroring off Planet back onto the moon to illuminate its dark side. On the eastern shore of North America, stargazers will see a practically ideal positioning of the crescent moon, Venus and Regulus in a straight line covering hardly a level of skies. On the west coastline of North America, it will be more of a close clustering, with an unclear triangular created by the moon, Venus and Regulus.

There will certainly be barely half a level between each of the three objects, which is less than the size of a little finger stood up versus the sky. This triple conjunction of naked-eye things is an uncommon view worth trying to see.

In regards to brightness, there will be a distinct chain of command. The moon will far beat everything, followed by stunning Venus and after that Regulus, which will appear pale comparative. Venus (magnitude -3.8) will certainly be concerning 110 times brighter than Regulus (size 1.3). (In astronomy, a reduced or adverse size corresponds to a brighter object.).

Those in northeastern Canada, Greenland, Western Europe and North Africa will see an also closer conjunction, with the moon occulting (moving in front of to block) Venus for a short time. It additionally indicates that lunar occultations are just noticeable from part of Earth’s surface area at any offered time.