Moon moves past Spica, approaches celestial Gateway

Early stargazers saw the two brightest stars in the constellation Libra as a celestial Gateway. Every month that these two stars are visible, the moon might - or might not - move between them, depending on the moon's place during its 18.6-year cycle.

Can you see that the moon is farther from Spica tonight than it was last night? The moon is shifting farther and farthest east, with respect to the stars, each day. The moon always moves toward the east on our sky’s dome. This motion is a translation on our sky’s dome of the moon’s orbit around Earth.
You can observe the moon’s orbital motion from one night to the next by watching the moon’s location with respect to background stars.
Or you can look outside each evening at the same time to notice that the moon is in a more easterly location on the sky’s dome than it was the night before. Just remember, when you do this, that you’re actually observing the moon moving in its orbit around Earth.
July 2011 guide to the five visible planets
The moon is now at the waxing gibbous phase. A waxing giboous moon carries that designation because it is ...