Today:
Orion is now slipping slowly into the southwest, found about one third of the way up from the horizon around 8:30 PM EST this evening. The bright star below his three belt stars, Rigel, remains distinct. A stellar powerhouse, Rigel generates 120,000 times more light than our Sun, but at a distance of nearly 900 light years.
Wednesday:
Tomorrow’s morning twilight hosts this month’s second conjunction between the Moon and Venus. Along an unobstructed eastern horizon, Venus will shine almost due east from 6:05 to 6:10, while the the slim crescent moon appears well to its right in the east-southeast. The two will rise in tandem form here, but will soon get lost in the glare of the rising sun before 6:30.
Thursday:
As the star Arcturus climbs to one third of the way above the eastern horizon at 10:30 PM this evening, look for another brilliant star to return to the skies, the bluish-white Vega, just rising in the north-northeast. Vega appears on any clear night of the year, but shifts into evening skies in the Spring.