This is advance warning for a beautiful sight taking place next weekend during the night of 9-10 April.
The silvery moon will move into a close conjunction with the bright red star of Antares. The contrasting colours of these two celestial objects, one near and the other far, is a true pleasure for the eye.
The chart shows the view looking south from London at 05.00 BST on the morning of 10 April. Those with a clear southern horizon will also be able to see the central “teapot” of Sagittarius, the archer, just beginning its climb into the sky.
Antares itself is located in Scorpius, the scorpion, and is a red supergiant star about 680 times the diameter of the sun. It gives out almost 76,000 times more light than our star. On the morning of 10 April, the moon will be in the third week of the current lunation, heading for its last-quarter phase.
It will have 83% of its surface illuminated. The conjunction is easily seen from the southern hemisphere because the farther south, the higher in the sky Scorpius and Antares appear to be. From Sydney, Australia the pair will appear in the northern sky, high up towards the zenith.
