Today:
The Vernal or Spring Equinox marks the calendar arrival of Spring early this morning at 5:01 AM EDT, when the Sun is positioned directly above the Earth’s equator. Although the word equinox means “equal night”, the atmosphere bends the sun’s light, shifting it slightly higher, adding several minutes to the daylight.
Friday:
By 2:30 AM, early Saturday morning, a waning Gibbous Moon climbs into the southeast, and will spend the rest of the night chasing the red star Antares, the “heart” of the Scorpion. The pair slides low through the southern skies, cresting due south at 5:40 AM, only a quarter of the way above the horizon, and then fading as twilight brightens by 6 o’clock.
Saturday:
Settling into the northwest as evening descends, the Queen of the heavens, Cassiopeia, remains well placed for viewing, about one third of the way above the horizon. Her W-shaped pattern of 5 stars pivots around the North Star, and each spring looks more and more like the celestial throne she sits upon.