The moon moves into a nice conjunction with the star Spica this weekend. The chart shows the view looking south-south-west from London on 16 June at 22.00 BST.
On this evening, the moon will be almost 10 days old with about 75% of its visible surface illuminated. Since the ratio is greater than 50%, this puts it in a waxing gibbous moon heading for full in the next few days.
At 22.00 BST in northern Europe, the sky will not yet be fully dark, so this will present a nice opportunity to watch the stars that mark out the shape of Virgo come out one by one as the twilight gathers and turns into the night.
In order of brightness, the main stars in Virgo are: Spica, Porrima, Vindemiatrix, Heze, Minelauva, nv (which although in the constellation boundary is not part of the asterism), 109 Virginis and Rijl al Awwa.
Virgo is the second largest constellation in the night sky, and is flanked to the west by Leo and to the east by Libra.
From the southern hemisphere, the conjunction will also be easily visible. From Sydney, Australia, for example, it will appear high in the evening sky.
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