Time to keep an eye on Mars

If you haven't before, this is the week to start watching the planet Mars as it closes in on Regulus, the brightest star in the Constellation Leo, the Lion. Regulus is the dot in the backwards question mark outlining Leo's head and mane.

For the last few weeks Mars has been moving steadily eastward against the background stars getting closer and closer. Monday, June 30, is the day for the closest approach of the planet-star duo when the red planet will be less than one degree away from the star. One degree is about the width of two full moons. It will be a marvelous sight in binoculars.

Keep watching during the next couple of weeks as Mars continues eastward to join sister planet Saturn on July 9 and 10. On July 6, a slender crescent moon will join Mars, Saturn, and Regulus in the southwestern sky an hour or so after sunset, another very nice sight for binoculars.

While you are out looking at Mars and Saturn in Leo, look just to the left of Leo for Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, the Maiden. Virgo is a rectangular shaped group of stars with Spica located in the lower left corner.

You can also find Spica by following the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper through Arcturus the brightest star in Bootes. There is an old astronomers adage which says, "Arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica."

Arcturus will be almost directly overhead and Spica will be high off the horizon in the southwest.

Once you have found Virgo try looking for two dimmer constellations in the area. Both are box shaped and are located below and slightly to the right of Virgo. They are Corvus, the Crow and Crater, the Cup. Both have a history in mythology.

Corvus, the Crow, was a servant of Apollo and was sent to get some water in Corvus the cup or goblet. While fetching the water the greedy crow found some figs and wasted so much time gobbling up the delicacies that he forgot all about the water.

In order to cover his dallying, the bird grabbed up a nearby water snake and brought it back to blame for being late. Apollo didn't buy any of it and threw all three into the sky. The water snake is the constellation Hydra and is visible just below Corvus and Crater much earlier in the year.

If you are out later in the evening look in the southeast at about 10:30 p.m. for Jupiter, the king of the planets, rising in the constellation Sagittarius. The bright planet will spend all summer in the eastern edge of the constellation near the Milky Way which marks the plane of our home galaxy.

SKY WATCH: Third quarter Moon on June 26. Look just above the eastern horizon after 9 p.m. for the Summer Triangle, an asterism formed by the stars Vega in Lyra, the Lyre, Altair in Aquila, the Eagle, and Deneb, the tail star of Cygnus, the Swan. All three will be the brightest stars in the area. Vega will be the highest with Deneb to the left and Altair on the right as you are looking at them.

In the southeast the other famous stars of summer in the constellations Scorpius, the Scorpion, and Sagittarius, the Archer are making a late evening appearance just after 10 p.m. MDT. These stars will be rising higher in the sky as the summer progresses. Between Sagittarius and Scorpius is the glowing heart of the Milky Way, the center of our home galaxy.

NEXT TIME: More astronomical blathering.