Watch the crescent Moon passing the Pleiades and Hyades at nightfall. This scene is drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. The blue 10掳 scale is about the size of your fist held at arm鈥檚 length (Illustration: Sky and Telescope)
Some daily events in the changing sky for March 27 鈥� April 4.
Friday, March 27
鈥� Venus is at inferior conjunction (between Earth and the Sun), passing 8掳 north of the Sun. See this .
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Saturday, March 28
鈥� As twilight gives way to night, look to the right of the crescent Moon in the west for the stars of little Aries (just outside the frame in this illustration). Higher to the Moon鈥檚 upper left is the Pleiades star cluster.
Sunday, March 29
鈥� In late dusk, the Pleiades are about 7掳 above the crescent Moon (seen at the time of dusk for North America), as shown at right.
Monday, March 30
鈥� This evening the Pleiades are about 7掳 below the Moon.
Tuesday, March 31
鈥� A small telescope will always reveal Titan, Saturn鈥檚 largest satellite. Tonight and tomorrow Titan is three or four ring-lengths to Saturn鈥檚 west.
Wednesday, April 1
鈥� This evening, the Moon shines just about midway between the bright stars Capella (to its right) and Procyon (to its left).
Thursday, April 2
鈥� First-quarter Moon (occurs at 1034 EDT (1534 GMT)).
Friday, April 3
鈥� Arcturus, the 鈥淪pring Star,鈥� sparkles brightly in the east these evenings. After about 9 or 10 pm, look for Vega, the 鈥淪ummer Star,鈥� rising low in the northeast.
Saturday, April 4
鈥� The Moon this evening forms a straight, diagonal line with the star Regulus and Saturn to its lower left.
This week鈥檚 planet roundup
Mercury is hidden in the glare of the Sun.
Venus (magnitude -4.0) is at inferior conjunction on March 27th. But even though it鈥檚 close to the Sun, this is an exciting time for Venus watchers! In a telescope it鈥檚 easily seen as a hairline crescent, because at this conjunction, Venus passes a full 8掳 to the Sun鈥檚 north.
Telescopically, Venus is best seen in full midday daylight. Just don鈥檛 let your telescope accidentally point at the Sun and blind you! Safest is to observe in the shadow of a building that will continue to block the Sun from view. For more on Venus鈥檚 especially favourable conjunction phenomena this year, see .
And already Venus is becoming visible very low in the sky of dawn. Look for it barely above the eastern horizon 10 or 15 minutes before sunrise. Don鈥檛 confuse it with bright Jupiter very far to the upper right. Find your local sunrise time from this (if you鈥檙e on daylight saving time like most of North America, make sure the Daylight Saving Time box is checked).
Mars (magnitude +1.2) is very low in the sunrise glow. Using binoculars, you can try looking for it just above the east-southeast horizon, far to the lower left of much brighter Jupiter, about 30 minutes before sunrise. Good luck.
Ceres, the largest asteroid, is magnitude 7.4 above the back of Leo.
Jupiter (magnitude 鈥�2.0, in Capricornus this year) shines low in the southeast during early dawn.
Saturn (magnitude +0.6, near the hind foot of Leo) shines in the east-southeast at dusk. It鈥檚 highest in the south around 11 pm. Look for Regulus shining 17掳 (nearly two fist-widths at arm鈥檚 length) to Saturn鈥檚 upper right in early evening, and more directly to its right later at night.
In a telescope, Saturn鈥檚 rings are 3.5掳 from edge on. The rings will open to a maximum of 4掳 in May, then will close to exactly edge-on next September 4th 鈥� when, unfortunately, Saturn will be out of sight practically in conjunction with the Sun.
Uranus (6th magnitude) is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.
Neptune (8th magnitude) is deep in the glow of dawn, far in the background of Jupiter.
Pluto (14th magnitude, in northwestern Sagittarius) is in the southeast before dawn.
All descriptions that relate to your horizon or zenith 鈥� including the words up, down, right, and left 鈥� are written for the world鈥檚 mid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude (mainly Moon positions) are for North America.
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