Starwatch: the meeting of a star, the planet Mars and our moon | Astronomy
FPresenting the conjunction last week between Regulus and Mars, the moon is now done in the act. This meeting of a star, a planet and a moon takes place on June 29. The graph shows the view west of London at 10:15 p.m. BST that day.
Red Planet Mars started from his narrow pass from the blue-white stars regulus, giving enough space for a crescent moon to hair removal is slipping together. The moon will have 4.7 days and will go to its first quarter phase (half-moon). Just over 22% of its visible surface will be lit.
From the moon, our nearest celestial neighbor, he takes the light of the sun which bounces from its surface to only 1.3 seconds to reach our eyes. For Mars, the fourth planet of our solar system, the light journey time of its surface is 15 minutes and 57 seconds. And for Regulus, it takes 79 years to reach us. So we see the moon as it appeared 1.3 seconds ago, March as it appeared 15 minutes and 57 seconds ago, and Regulus as it appeared 79 years ago.
The conjunction is easily visible from the southern hemisphere, where it will appear in North-North West.
