On Thursday in the night sky this week, the moon is full and is called the Flower Moon. It also is very close to Antares the red giant star (the heart of the scorpion). People in the southeastern part of the country will see the moon pass in front of the star.
Let’s jump to a few hours before the sun rises, Saturn shining bright is above the horizon. If you have a small telescope, you will notice the rings are thin and they will disappear later this year. This is because we now view the rings’ edge on because of Saturn’s orbit with us.
Mars rises after Saturn around 4:30 AM. Compare red Mars to the red Antares. Mars will be slightly dimmer because it is away from Earth in its orbit.
You may even get a glimpse of Mercury very low on the horizon 45 minutes before sunrise.
Get ready for Mercury and Jupiter to return to the morning skies and counting Uranus and the dim Neptune, we will have 6 of the 8 planets visible throughout the late spring.
Through the week of May 24th.