The Night Sky Guy

Tonight: Scorpion’s Claws Grasp Moon

Written by The Night Sky Guy on June 30, 2012 – 12:36 pm -

Sky-watchers tonight (June 30) get to watch the moon within the northwest corner of the constellation Scorpius low in the southern sky. If you superimpose the mythological figure of the arachnoid in the heavens then the Moon would actually appear to be held within the claws of the beast. The bright orange star to the Moon’s left is Antares located 600 light years from Earth. By the next night (July 1) the Moon will have skipped over to the other side of Antares.

The three brightest stars that are in a line above and below the Moon, form the celestial claws but are sometime referred to as the crown of Scorpius too. This stellar trio, all located about 500 light years from Earth are likely related to each other, along with Antares and hundred other stars- all probably born in the same cloud of gas and dust hundreds of millions of years ago.