Today:
Looking due east at 6:25 this evening, Leo the Lion begins to climb above the horizon, with the Twins of Gemini much higher. About halfway between them, search for a faint sprinkling of stars, called the “Beehive”, a swarm of stars in the faint constellation Cancer, the Crab. Looking slightly away from them will make it easier to see them.
Thursday:
The Milky Way is showing off in the dark, moonless evening skies, arching from southeast and into the south, climbing above Orion and nearly overhead. It then shimmers down toward the northwestern horizon. During March, the Milky Way, and Orion, ease lower into the southwest.
Friday:
Tonight’s New Moon will facilitate the detection the most distant object human eyes can see, the Andromeda galaxy, a faint smudge of light, one half of the way above the west-northwest horizon, as twilight ends after 6:40 PM. It appears at the hip of the constellation Andromeda, on the side toward her mother, Cassiopeia. A pair of binoculars will help.