Tonight, the waning gibbous moon will be near Jupiter and Gemini's brightest star, Pollux, to form an isosceles triangle with Pollux at the top vertex as they rise in the east at about 8 p.m.

As the night progresses, the moon will draw closer to Jupiter and by an hour before sunrise tomorrow morning, the triangle will have shrunk considerably with the moon almost in between Jupiter and Pollux. The triangle will again be an isosceles but the moon will now be at the top vertex and you'll be able to fit either the moon and Jupiter or the moon and Pollux within the same field of view of your binoculars.

Contributing columnist Nick Strobel is director of the William M. Thomas Planetarium at Bakersfield College and author of the award-winning website AstronomyNotes.com.

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