• The brightest and second-brightest orbs of nighttime - the moon and the planet Venus, respectively - have been glorious in our sky the past few days and still adorn the eastern predawn sky on Thursday, September 13. They are visible throughout the world. Both the waning crescent moon and Venus will be shining brightly in front of the constellation Cancer the Crab.
• By Friday, September 14, the moon will pass out of Cancer, but rather close to Regulus, the constellation Leo's brightest star. Venus, on the other hand, will remain in front of the constel

lation Cancer until the September 22 equinox.
• On or around September 22, Venus will straddle the border of the constellations Cancer and Leo. After that, Venus will continue to move eastward in front of the constellation Leo, finally to meet up with the star Regulus in the predawn hours on October 3. Be sure to circle this date on your calendar. This will be the closest conjunction of a planet and a first-magnitude star for all of 2012.
• If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you should be able to see Regulus near the horizon an hour or so before sunrise. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you may miss Regulus altogether because this star still sits low in the glare of morning twilight at southerly latitudes. However, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Regulus rises about four minutes earlier with each passing day. So by October 3, the Venus/Regulus conjunction should be visible in the predawn sky from all around the world.
• Bottom line: Enjoy the predawn sky in the first week of September 2012, as the waning crescent moon passes the dazzling planet Venus in the east. Look east in the hours before sunrise!
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