Today:
Over the next 10 days, the planet Mercury puts on an excellent display in the western twilight, though our closest planet to the Sun never appears very high. Find a low, level view to the west, and starting near 7:30 PM, scan a little more than a hand-width above the spot that would be level. It will be bright, but low.
Sunday:
The Big Dipper looks like a question mark in the northeast. After months of asking “when is Spring?”, follow this question mark’s curve to find a star that announces Spring to our skies. Rising near 8:00 PM this evening, the bright star Arcturus comes up in the east-northeast, arriving each March in the evenings.
Monday:
Today marks the anniversary of the discovery of Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh was examining pictures taken through the telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona in January, 1930, over a period of days. One of the “stars” in the image moved while the stars remained in place, revealing the frozen world for the first time.