Today:
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.
Thursday:
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.