Today:
The waxing Gibbous Moon is just one day from being Full, known is April as the “Pink” Moon. This is a great time to see one of the Moon’s prominent craters, Tycho. Binoculars show it near the bottom as a hub for a series of lines radiating outward, or “rays”, caused when a meteor crashed into the Moon 110 million years ago.
Saturday:
This evening, almost exactly as the Sun sets, the Full “Pink” Moon rises in the east. The Moon is perfectly Full less than an hour later, at 8:22 PM, at which point you migh glimpse the steely-blue star Spica, just barely to the Moon’s upper left. The Moon actually passes in front of this star as seen from South America, called a lunar occultation. This Full Moon is known as the “Pink” Moon after the wild pink ground phlox, native to areas farther south than here.
Sunday:
While the Moon, just one day past Full, continues to bathe the skies with moonlight, the western skies play host to several bright objects capable of competing with the lunar glow. As the last twilight fades, Jupiter is due west, one third of the way above the horizon, at 8:45 PM. Jupiter is slowly progressing up through the “horns” of Taurus, the Bull, but not fast enough to overcome the Earth’s orbital speed. Jupiter settles lower each evening, and will be out of view by June.