The silver light of the moon meets the blood red starlight of Antares this week. The chart shows the view looking due south at 22.00 BST on 28 July.
As the twilight dims into the darkness of the night, the waxing gibbous moon and Antares will be revealed. To the eye, they will appear to be just one or two finger widths apart, when holding your hand at arm’s length. In reality of course they are at vastly different distances. The moon is literally next door on the cosmic scale while Antares is way beyond our entire solar system, at a distance of about 550 light years from Earth.
Referred to as the heart of the scorpion, Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius, the scorpion, and the 15th brightest star in the night sky. It is conspicuously red in colour, and its name reflects this. Antares means “rival to Ares”, where Ares is the Greek name for Mars, the red planet. To make the most of their meeting, start watching on Monday night to track the moon’s approach to Antares. The further south you are located, the higher in the sky this conjunction will appear.
