The crescent moon appears in the southwestern sky this weekend. Tonight the moon is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. It moves through the zodiacal constellation Gemini over the weekend. These are the last you'll see of these two winter constellations. The two now hug the western sky and set not too long after the sun. This is a time to look forward to the constellations of spring.

On Monday night the first quarter moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Cancer, one of the smallest of zodiacal constellations. If you've got a pair of binoculars take a look at the field of view around the moon. The moon is residing in close proximity to the Beehive Cluster, an assembly of many faint stars, suggesting a nest of swarming bees. Take note of that part of the sky where the moon resides. Take a look with binoculars on a moonless night and you'll see too many stars to count in the Beehive Cluster. The stars are 577 light years away.

For the remainder of the coming week, the moon moves through the large zodiacal constellation Leo, one of the big zodiacal constellations. It takes several nights for the moon to pass through Leo.