Starwatch: The moon to make close pass of the star Spica

This week it is the turn of the almost full moon to make a close pass of the star Spica.

The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at 22:00 GMT on 26 March – the time when the celestial pairing will be rising. The moon became full on 24 March, but it still has 97.5% of its visible surface illuminated as it cruises past Spica.

The star itself is the brightest in the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin. It is located about 250 light years away and holds more than seven times the mass of the Sun. This gives it a luminosity of about 12,000 times that of our star and a radius seven-and-a-half times larger.

To the ancient Egyptians, Spica was associated with the sky goddess Hathor. A temple at Thebes, built in 3200BC, was aligned to the star. However, because Earth’s rotation axis gradually follows out a circle in the sky, taking roughly 26,000 years to complete a full turn, the star is no longer aligned with the temple.

In the UK, clocks go forward one hour to British summer time on 31 March.