Thursday,  September 6, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 051 • 4 of 33 •  Other Editions

Jupiter trails moon across sky in hours before dawn September 7

• The waning gibbous moon rises in the east late on the evening of September 6, and the giant planet follows the moon into the sky around the midnight hour. If you're more of an early bird than a night owl, look for the moon and Jupiter high in the southern sky before sunrise. By the way, both the moon and Jupiter reside in front of the constellation Taurus the Bull.
• Moon near the planet Jupiter at dawn on Friday, September 7
• Bird's-eye view of the Earth and Jupiter as seen from the north side of solar system plane

• At east quadrature, the moons of Jupiter - not the moon shadows - cross Jupiter's disk first. Image credit: Wikipedia
• The planet Jupiter reaches west quadrature tomorrow (Friday, September 7) at 10 Universal Time or 5 a.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). Any celestial object is said to be at west quadrature whenever it lies 90 degrees west of the sun in our sky. For example, the moon is always at west quadrature at last quarter moon, but the waning gibbous moon will be a little shy of last quarter as you see it near Jupiter on Friday morning. The last quarter moon will fall on Saturday, September 8, at 8:15 a.m. CDT.
• Like the last quarter moon, a planet at west quadrature is seen in the morning sky, usually in the hours between midnight and sunrise. If you're up during the predawn and dawn hours, it'll be hard to miss Jupiter. It's the second-brightest starlike object to light up the morning sky, after the planet Venus. Look for Venus fairly low in the east, its dazzling light also adorning the predawn and dawn sky.

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