Today:
The Ides of March meant the middle of March to the Romans, and specifically the night of the Full Moon, because their calendar was a lunar calendar. However, today’s standardized calendars are no longer lunar, and the state of the Moon tonight is a waning crescent.
Sunday:
Orion is now slipping slowly into the southwest, found about one third of the way up from the horizon around 9:30 PM EDT this evening. The bright star below his three belt stars, Rigel, remains distinct. A stellar powerhouse, Rigel generates 120,000 times more light than our Sun, but at a distance of nearly 900 light years.
Monday:
As the star Arcturus climbs to one third of the way above the eastern horizon at 11:00 PM this, look for another brilliant star to return to the skies, the bluish-white Vega, just rising in the north-northeast. Vega appears on any clear night of the year, but shifts into evening skies in the Spring.