AMATEUR ASTRONOMY:

MOON, MARS AND ANTARES AT DUSK:

Early evening tonight 9too late) and tomorrow is a good time to spot an interesting triplet in the dusk sky towards the southwest. on these nights Mars and the Moon pair with the red supergiant Antares shortly after sunset. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio and is so large that if it were in our solar system it would extend to somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. it is about 600 light years from us, and has the visual luminosity of about 10,000 suns. Despite this its distance means that it is "only" the 16th brightest visual star. catch this triplet tomorrow evening (see diagram). look for Mercury as well.