Beginning around May 27, 2012, the moon in our sky sweeps below the constellation Leo the Lion for several nights. This is the constellation in which you'll also find the planet Mars. The moon is still waxing larger each evening. Full moon will come on June 4. Tonight's moon is a fat waxing crescent moon passing close to Regulus, Leo's brightest star, this evening. The planet Mars is the reddish "star" nearby. By this time tomorrow - on Monday, May 28 - a fuller moon will have moved eastward, or in the direction of Mars.
Mars, presently in front of Leo, is past its time of opposition for this year, when Earth passed between it and the sun. That happened in early

March 2012. Mars has been lingering in front of Leo for some months, but it'll soon be on the moon again in front of the star background. Mars will pass into the constellation Virgo by around the time of the June solstice.
The bright star Regulus - which has been visible near Mars for many months in 2012 - marks the bottom of a backwards question mark of stars, which skywatchers know as The Sickle. The Sickle is what's called an asterism - not a whole constellation but simply a noticeable pattern of stars on the sky's dome. The Sickle outlines the head and mane of Leo the Lion, and the triangle of stars to the left of the Sickle depicts the Lion's hindquarters and tail.
Regulus sits almost squarely on the ecliptic - the sun's yearly path through the

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