Saturn and moon to rule the sky tonight

Just one night before the moon is in its full phase, Saturn will sneak directly below it, shining bright yellowish-white. It will illuminate just like a star, except shining much brighter.

Saturn is currently shining bright in the night sky, just a few days after reaching opposition - its best display for stargazers - on Saturday. The planet shines at brilliant magnitude of zero on the brightness scale, making it virtually equal to the bright star Arcturus visible high above Saturn.

So despite its relative close proximity to the moon, Saturn will still manage to stand-out quite well. And what will be especially interesting will be to watch how the moon seems to approach Saturn during the course of the overnight hours, Discovery News reported.

At dusk on Tuesday, Saturn will appear about 5.5 degrees to the lower left of the moon. The moon will move toward Saturn at its own apparent width (one-half degree) per hour during the night.

So by dawn on Wednesday (May 14), the Saturn and the moon will be low in the west-southwest, the moon having moved to within 2.5 degrees to the lower right of the ringed planet.

More interestingly, from the southern half of Australia, New Zealand and Victoria Land (Antarctica), the moon will occult (hide) Saturn on Wednesday evening.