Between stars that look close together but aren't, and bits of the moon that appear to be missing, the dark skies are filled with illusions.
Eagle eye viewers might notice an odd "bridge" of sorts on the edge of the moon that appears to stretch out into empty space. This illusion is caused by a large crater coupled with lighting from the sun. "The sunlight is skimming the edge of this crater," says Bob Kings. As a result, only the rim of the crater is lit while the valley remains in darkness.
The Beehive Cluster and the planet Mars will be close together in the sky, but only according to our point of view. The Beehive star cluster is 610 lightyears away. "There's a great deal of space between them," says King.
Throughout the month of June, fifty miles overhead, "pale-blue tendrils" can be seen an hour or two after sunset. These clouds are made of meteorite dust and ice crystals. The sunlight washes out the red color leaving trails of blue in the sky.
