Moon in the Middle  StarDate: January 1, 2010   audio/mpeg icon
The skywatching year gets off to a great start tonight. The Moon
is surrounded by twins, dogs, and a god of war. They form a
pattern that looks like a giant letter "Y," with the Moon right
in the middle.  Around 8 or 9 o'clock, look for the Moon in the
east. It's just a couple of days past full, so sunlight
illuminates almost the entire lunar disk.  The twins of Gemini
line up to the upper left of the Moon -- the stars Pollux and
Castor. Pollux is closer to the Moon, and it's the brighter of
the two.  The "dogs" line up to the lower right of the Moon.
Procyon, the leading light of Canis Minor, the little dog, is
fairly close to the Moon. And Sirius, of Canis Major, the big
dog, is a good bit farther along the same line. You won't have
any trouble finding it, though, because it's the brightest star
in the night sky.  Finally, down to the lower left of the Moon,
look for the planet Mars. It'll be at its brightest for the
entire year later this mon