Today:
The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, sparkles in the south as twilight fades by 8 o’clock, sliding into the southwest through the course of the evening, one of the first stars out as twilight fades. Its brilliance is due, in part to its relative closeness, only 8.6 light years away, as well as putting out about 25 times more light than our Sun.
Tuesday:
Tonight’s skies are lit up by the Full “Sap” Moon, sometimes called the Full “Worm” Moon. It won’t be long before we start seeing worms emerging from the thawing ground, but the Sap Moon seems to fit better, with steam rolling out of the sugar houses after a mild afternoon.
Wednesday:
Leo the Lion climbs higher into the evening skies, with its bright star, Regulus, the “heart” of Leo, nearly half way up in the east-southeast by 8:30 PM. Regulus appears to be younger than it really is. A companion dwarf star appears to be supplying it with new material – a celestial face-lift of sorts.