Today:
Is March going out like a lion? Leo the Lion continues to climb higher in the March evening skies. Its brightest star – Regulus – is more than half way above the southeast horizon at 8:30 PM EDT. Looking above and left of Regulus, the stars form a curve like the letter “c”, giving it the appearance of a sickle, or a “backward” question mark.
Tuesday:
April opens with a visual challenge in the western skies. A waxing Crescent Moon appears just above the star cluster, the Seven Sisters, or the Pleiades, due west, one third of the way up at 8:15, settling lower and to the right through the evening. The Moon’s light will make them harder to see, with perhaps only the 3 or 4 brightest stars visible. A pair of binoculars or a spotting scope will make viewing them much easier.
Wednesday:
A wide, waxing Crescent Moon appears to the upper right of the giant planet Jupiter this evening, nearly two-thirds of the way up in the bright twilight near 7:30, settling to half way up, and closer to due west near the end of twilight an hour later. They’ll enjoy a second rendezvous at the end of the month.