• The bright waxing gibbous moon hovers over the constellation Capricornus the Sea-goat tonight, making this constellation of the Zodiac hard to see in its glare. But in a week or two - after the moon drops out of the evening sky - try viewing this arrowhead-shaped constellation in the darkness of night. How will you spot it, once the moon moves away? If you're familiar with the Summer Triangle, you can draw an imaginary line from the star Vega and past the star Altair to locate Capricornus.
• Summer Triangle: Vega, Deneb, Altair

• The next Blue Moon is August 31, 2012
• Capricornus is one of the constellations of the Zodiac - the band of stars that marks the pathway of the sun, moon and planets. The ecliptic on the sky chart at the top of this post shows that the sun passes in front of this constellation for nearly a month each year, from about January 20 until February 17. The sun enters Capricornus about one month after the December solstice - the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice and the Southern Hemisphere's summer solstice.
• Look on the globe depicted in the illustration on the next page. You'll see the southernmost extent of the sun's travels on the December 21 solstice, marked as the tropic of Capricorn. If you stood anywhere along the Tropic of Capricorn on Earth, you'd see the sun at zenith - or straight overhead - on the December 21 solstice. The Tropic of Capricorn, by the way, is nearly 23.5o south of the equator - a result of the fact that Earth is tilted on its axis by about this amount.
• The Tropic of Capricorn is obviously named for the constellation Capricornus.

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