Night Sky Photography -- 02-31-2023 -- The Moon & Mars Inside The Winter Circle

Good evening, fellow stargazers!

For my last night sky offering for this month, I was able to capture a good shot of our planetary neighbor, Mars, with the Waxing Gibbous Moon inside the Winter Circle (or Winter Hexagon) asterism late in the evening as they began to set towards the west. I was unable to capture all of the stars of the Winter Circle because the bright, blue-white supergiant star, Rigel, in the Constellation Orion The Hunter, was already past the tree line and setting in the west; but I was able to get all the rest of the stars perfectly.

At present, Mars is fading in its brightness daily as it our Earth moves farther away from it in our closer orbit of the Sun. Soon the Red Planet will blend in with the other 1st-magnitude stars in the night sky. Mars will remain inside the Winter Circle for some time.

Our lovely Moon however, will continue to glow in brightness and continue its Waxing Gibbous phase until it becomes the Full Worm Moon (March Full Moon in the Northern Hemisphere) on Tuesday, March 7th. The Moon will also remain inside the Winter Circle for two more days, traveling higher until it meets with the star, Pollux in the Constellation Gemini The Twins on Thursday, March 2nd.