See Moon, Spica before bedtime March 11
Bruce McClure in TONIGHT | March 11, 2020
https://earthsky.org/upl/2020/03/202...-night-sky.jpg
This evening – March 11, 2020 – look eastward before going to bed and you just might catch the bright waning gibbous moon and the star Spica over the horizon. First look for the moon and that nearby bright star will be Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. At far-northern latitudes, the moon and Spica rise quite late. So if you’re not one for staying up late, you can always get up before dawn to view the moon and Spica in the morning sky.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the moon and Spica are up by mid-evening. But the star Arcturus to the north (or left) of the moon and Spica will rise well after the moon and Spica first appear. At northerly latitudes, Arcturus rises first, before the moon and Spica do.
On March 11, 2020, you’ll find the moon in front of the constellation Virgo and rather close to Spica, Virgo’s brightest star. Spica serves as a prime example of a 1st-magnitude star; in other words, it’s one of the brightest stars in our sky. You should have no trouble picking it out, even in the glare of the waning gibbous moon.
Spica is a blue-white gem of a star, and, for stars, color reveals the star’s surface temperature. Spica’s blue-white complexion shows that its surface temperature is extremely high (39,860 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22,127 degrees Celsius). In contrast, our yellow-colored sun has a much cooler surface (only 9,980 degrees F, or 5,527 degrees C). The surface temperature of an orange star, such as Antares, is even cooler (7,300 degrees F, or 4,038 degrees C).
