The Moon has a busy month, starting this evening when it partners up with Spica, in Virgo. As darkness falls, the two are high in the southeast and roughly 2?° apart; however, the Moon is still approaching the lst-magnitude star. When they're closest a few hours later (at 12:40 a.m. EDT, on May 4th), the gap between them will have narrowed to just a bit more than 2°. As we've noted here before, the Moon zips along at an impressive pace, moving its own diameter ever hour. By the morning of the 7th, it will have crossed Virgo and Libra to sit in Scorpius, about 2?° right of that constellation's brightest star, Antares. But even more illustrative of the Moon's pace is the fact that it ends the month as it began, with another Spica encounter. This time the twosome set together (about 4° apart) in the predawn hours of the 31st.
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