Starwatch: see blood-red Antares pair with the silvery moon

The silvery moon is contrasted with the red light of the giant star in Scorpius, the Scorpion. There is an excellent chance to see this pair tonight.

The view from London at midnight on 16 May is shown in the chart. 99% of the moon's visible surface will be illuminated. It will be about 3.5 degrees away from Antares.

The 15th brightest star in the sky is called antsares. It doesn't follow a regular cycle and varies its brightness by a factor of 0.75. This makes it a slow irregular variable star, a poorly understood class of variable star, which can encompass a wide variety of causes.

The pair is easily visible from the southern hemisphere. The higher in the sky Scorpius appears, the easier it is to see. At midnight on 17 May, the moon will be high in the eastern sky, towards the zenith.