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Ephemeris: 06/16/2025 – Mars meets Regulus tonight

June 16, 2025 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:17 tomorrow morning.

If one looks out tonight to the west after dark, two bright stars will appear very close together. One appears to the upper right of the other and very close, about one and a half moon-widths apart. The star to the upper right will have a reddish hue. It’s not a star at all but the planet Mars. The other one is a star, Regulus in Leo the lion. After tonight Mars will continue its trek eastward against the stars heading towards another bright star, Spica in Virgo. It will pass north of that star on September 11th. Mars will pass any particular star near the ecliptic on the average of one year, ten and a half months, which is its orbital period of the Sun. Since we’re viewing it from the moving Earth, along with Mars’ eccentric orbit, the interval can vary greatly.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The conjunction of the planet Mars and the star Regulus in Leo the lion as it might be seen at 10:30 PM tonight, June 16th 2025, low in the West after sunset. Mars is very nearly the same brightness as Regulus, but they have very different colors. Regulus is blue-white, while Mars has a reddish hue. Mars is moving to the upper left against the stars, but both Regulus and Mars are losing their fight against the Sun due to the Earth’s orbital motion around it. However, Mars will linger longer in the evening sky. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

Categories: Conjunction, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,