Tonight the moon is a little past eight days old and is in a waxing (growing larger) gibbous (more than half-lit) phase.
It will be full next Wednesday, when there also will be an eclipse of the moon, but it will not be visible in our part of the world. Take advantage of the moon tonight to find a few objects of interest.
Look south at 8:30 p.m. to see the bright moon. Below it and to the left will be four relatively bright stars that look like a misshapen square being narrower at the top than at the bottom. They will be dimmed by the moon and will be better enjoyed when the moon is out of this part of the sky.
These stars represent Corvus the crow. If you have a dark sky, Corvus is quite bright indeed. How Corvus is supposed to resemble a crow beats me. It is an old constellation and was probably added to the sky by the ancients to honor the crow, which is ubiquitous, feisty, often annoying but admirable for its cleverness and durability.
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If you look north and east (left) of the moon, you will find Saturn almost due south at 8:30 p.m. and 55 degrees above the southern horizon.
Saturn is bright with a yellowish color. If you are lucky enough to view Saturn with a small telescope, you will easily see its gorgeous rings and its bright moon Titan. In fact, the rings of Saturn are just barely visible through ordinary hand-held binoculars but are quite hard to recognize due to Saturn's apparent movement in the binoculars from unsteady hands. Saturn will be about 15 degrees directly above Corvus.
To top off our evening treats, look directly east of the moon and southeast of Saturn to see bright Spica, one of my favorite stars.
Contact Tim Hunter at skyspy@azstarnet.com