Much higher above you'll find bright Capella. The Moon rises around midnight in dim Cancer. Mars glares at magnitude –0.9, Beta Tauri above it is mag 1.6, and Zeta Tauri is much closer below Mars at mag 3.0. Look east once Mars is well up, around about 10 or 11 pm. ■ Tonight Mars shines right on the line between the horntip stars of Taurus. The Little Dipper's two brightest stars (2nd magnitude) are Polaris, the end of its handle due north, and Kochab, the lip of its bowl about a fist and a half to Polaris's left. ■ This is the time of year when, after nightfall, Cassiopeia stands on end halfway up the northeastern sky - and when, off to its left in the north, the dim Little Dipper extends leftward from Polaris. Down from Tarazed runs the dimmer stick-figure backbone of the constellation Aquila, the Eagle. Just upper right of Altair, by a finger-width at arm's length, is little orange Tarazed. ![]() Less high in the southwest look for Altair, not quite as bright. Vega, meanwhile, is still that brightest star high in the west. Accordingly, Capricornus has replaced Sagittarius as the zodiacal constellation low in the south. ■ Now that it's mid-October, Deneb has replaced Vega as the zenith star after nightfall (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes). The Moon was full (at opposition) last Sunday, while Mars will reach opposition December 8th. Once again, the Moon and an outer planet demonstrate that they shine together on opposite sides of their opposition dates. ![]() The waning gibbous Moon, up in the east in late evening, passes bright, fiery Mars on Friday the 14th. They're both between the horntip stars of Taurus: Beta Tauri, magnitude 2, and Zeta Tauri, mag 3. ![]() By 11 they're nice and high, as shown below. Once it's up, look to its right or lower right for bright Mars. ■ The waning gibbous Moon rises after about 9 p.m.
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