Mars joins the Sickle of Leo

The Sickle is a famous asterism in Leo, which now also hosts Mars in the evening sky.

Mars has now crossed the border from Cancer into Leo, standing in the far western regions of the Lion’s domain. The Red Planet is visible after sunset this evening, slowly sinking in the west and setting around 1 A.M. local daylight time. 

This offers plenty of time to inspect the ruddy world, which now glows at magnitude 1.2. It is fading slightly, losing about 0.1 magnitude every few weeks, and will continue to do so until October, when it slowly begins brightening again. Through a telescope, the martian disk is just 6” wide, offering little in the way of detail. 

Just to the upper left of Mars in the sky as it sets is an asterism called the Sickle of Leo. So named for its similarity in shape to the farm implement, the Sickle also looks like a backwards question mark. It is anchored at the base of its handle by Regulus, the Lion’s alpha star, which glows at magnitude 1.4 — just a tad fainter than Mars. From Regulus, move 4.8° due north to magnitude 3.5 Eta (η) Leonis, the next star in the Sickle, then 4.3° northeast to reach magnitude 2.0 Gamma Leo. Jump another 3.7° north of this star to reach magnitude 3.4 Zeta (ζ) Leo, then travel 6° northwest to magnitude 3.9 Mu (μ) Leo. Finally, take a short 2.7° hop southwest to Epsilon (ε) Leo, shining at magnitude 3.0, to end your journey at the tip of the Sickle’s blade. 

The Moon reaches perigee — the closest point to Earth in its orbit — at 9:34 P.M. EDT this evening, when it will stand 223,086 miles (359,022 kilometers) away.

Sunrise: 5:37 A.M.
Sunset: 8:18 P.M.
Moonrise: 4:09 A.M.
Moonset: 7:03 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (3%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.

For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.