Update (June 18): I just went outside (4:00 local time), and the Moon is nearly straight up… and next to it, plain as day (har har) is Venus! Amazing. With the crescent Moon to guide the eye, Venus is really easy to spot. I put the Sun behind my house to block the light, which helped. This will get harder to do every hour as the Moon pulls away from Venus, but that will still lead to the beautiful alignment tonight described below.
Via astropixie, I am reminded that there are several interesting things to see in the sky coming up.
First, check the western sky shortly after sunset tonight and for the next few days. The bright star Regulus, Venus, and Saturn make a pretty line, and the thin crescent Moon will glide through them every night, too.
There are also several way cool occultations (where one object passes in front of another) this week:
- For people in the NE US, Europe, and Canada, the Moon will pass directly in front of Venus on June 18. The website for The Socirty for Popular Astronomy (UK) has some great info. There is also a live webcast planned!
- The Moon will also pass in front of the bright star Regulus on June 20. Note this will happen in the evening of the 19th for most folks west of England. It’ll be in the late afternoon for me here in Boulder, which means it won’t be a naked eye event; Regulus is too dim to be seen in the daytime. But I’ll see if I can see it with my ‘scope. That’ll be way cool.
- The Moon will occult Saturn later that day as well, but the geometry of the event means most folks on Earth will miss it. Too bad.
Check the IOTA webpage for more. I need to remember to check this once a week, too. Now that I’m home a bit more 
I can try to catch more stuff like this!
June 16th, 2007 at 9:55 am
When the moon passes in front of Regulus, why is that a big deal? I ask because June 20th is my birthday and I’d enjoy another reason to celebrate.
June 16th, 2007 at 11:15 am
The moon does not have an atmosphere which means that the star will just disappear and reappear again with at least no dimming! I think this is pretty amazing and I hope that there are no clouds here that I can view it!
And maybe this has something to do with astrology – you will get a great birthday
June 16th, 2007 at 11:30 am
If this blog had ended with “Keep looking up!” I’d have thought for sure it was Jack Horkheimer.
Always a fan of neat astronomy news like this, thanks BA.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Jack Horkheimer!! OMG! I used to watch his show all the time.
Thank you for reminding me of that show! I’d see it before Doctor Who and Blake’s 7! HEEHEE!
June 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Heh. I met Jack at Randi’s first Amaz!ng Meeting. We got along pretty well.
Occultations are just cool. There is some science you can get form them, but in general they’re just fun to watch.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Watch this space. You may get to see some occultation pics of Venus from another part of the world, unless of course BA’s spam-busting-software-thingie doesn’t let me do so.
June 16th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Post ‘em on BAUT!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Occultations? I knew it! Astronomers are practitioners of the OCCULT!
June 16th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Cloudy here tonight. Bummer.
June 16th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Of course we practice the occult. Some of us like Dungeons and Dragons: Satan’s game
June 17th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Hot diggity daffodil! I should be able to see the Moon pass in front of Regulus. So living in the north west of England DOES have it’s advantages.
June 17th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Ack! I misread the post. “West of…” not “In the west of…”
June 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hot diggity daffodil?
Oh, BA… >_>
June 17th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
i posted some pictures of tonights fantastic spectacle!
(http://www.amandabauer.blogspot.com/)
cant wait for tomorrow night!!
June 17th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
The Bad Astronomer Says: “Cloudy here tonight. Bummer.”
You shouldn’t have left. Santa Rosa (the closest city to Rhonert Park that they show on the local weather) has been cloudless and warm for the past week!
- Jack
June 18th, 2007 at 6:39 am
It’s cloudy and stormy here in England too. It always is when there’s anything worth seeing astronomically. Guess I picked the wrong country to be born in…
June 18th, 2007 at 7:57 am
I just got back from looking for the Venus event. Nothing. The sky is clear, but the murk on the horizon toward the East (Denver) was too thick. I never even saw the Moon!
June 18th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Here in Broomfield, Colorado, the Moon, Venus, Saturn, and Regulus formed a great line in the Western sky last evening for most of the two hours after sunset, until they disappeared, one after another, first, behind a low cloud, and then behind the Indian Peaks of the Rockies.
The remarkable thing about this orientation is how evenly spaced these four bodies appeared from our vantage point.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I took a crappy picture of what I THINK is the moon passing over regulus….
June 18th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Oh wait, I just noticed that today’s only the 19th because it’s past 12 already. Holy cow time flies. I’m not sure what that top star is…
July 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
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July 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
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July 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
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