Today:
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. Astronomers discovered that a companion dwarf star supplies it with fresh material – a celestial face-lift of sorts.
Tuesday:
In March, the Milky Way is still fairly high across the western sky in the evening, running from the south, just above the bright star Sirius, then high in the west above Orion and Taurus, the Bull, then to the right of the bright star Capella, finally settling down into the north.
Wednesday:
Very high in the west-northwest, emerging from the fading twilight near 7:45 PM, sparkles the brilliant star Capella, the fourth brightest star that we can see. What we can’t see is that it is actually a pair of bright, giant stars, each more than twice as massive as the Sun. They orbit each other once every 104 days, no farther apart than the Sun and Venus.