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‘Earth & Sky’ Archives

Earthsky Tonight — April1, 2010 Follow the arc to

Earthsky Tonight — April1, 2010 Follow the arc to Arcturus

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Now is the perfect time to look outside in the evening and learn a phrase useful to skywatchers. Scouts learn it. Grandparents teach it to kids. It was one of the first sky tools I learned to use in astronomy. The phrase is: follow the arc to Arcturus. First locate the Big Dipper asterism in the northeastern sky in mid-evening, maybe around 9 p.m. Can’t find the Big Dipper? Look ahead to our chart for April 6. Once you can ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight – March 31, 2010 Mercury and

Earthsky Tonight – March 31, 2010 Mercury and Venus in same binocular field after sunset

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you have never seen the planet Mercury before, now is time to do so. Find the planet Venus in the western twilight after sunset, and you are pretty much assured of spotting Mercury. Venus is easy to find, because it is the third brightest celestial object to bedeck the heavens after the sun and the moon. Mercury, although considerably fainter than dazzling Venus, is still as bright as a first-magnitude star. If you can’t ... Full Story

Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright

Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright and beautiful stars

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the waning gibbous moon beams near two bright and beautiful stars, Arcturus and Spica. Sparkling above the eastern horizon at early to mid evening, these stars travel westward (along with the moon) throughout the night, and stand high in your southern sky in the wee hours after midnight. As dawn starts to color the sky, these gems light up the western sky. In early spring, these two springtime stars shine all night ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March 29, 2010 Full moon near

Earthsky Tonight — March 29, 2010 Full moon near Saturn

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the full moon beams between the golden planet Saturn and sparkling blue-white Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. For the northern hemisphere, this is the first full moon of spring – or the first to follow the March 20 spring equinox. The first springtime moon is commonly called the Egg Moon, Grass Moon or Easter Moon. The moon turns precisely full tonight at 9:25 p.m. Central Daylight ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight – March 28, 2010: Moon and

Earthsky Tonight – March 28, 2010: Moon and Saturn from dusk until dawn

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Go out at nightfall and look to the east, you will see the beautiful planet Saturn. It will be the starlike object close to tonight’s almost-full waxing gibbous moon. Note Saturn’s golden color, if you can. If you cannot, try viewing this world through binoculars. Better yet, look at Saturn’s golden color and glorious rings through a telescope. By about midnight, Saturn will be high in the southern heavens. Why Saturn ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight – March 27, 2010 Moon’s

Earthsky Tonight – March 27, 2010 Moon’s closest approach in March

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org The moon comes closest to the Earth for all of this month on March 28, 2010, at 5 hours Universal Time. For the central US, that puts the moon’s closest approach at 0 hours Central Time on March 28. The designation 0 hours on March 28 means midnight March 27-28. In other words, that is midnight tonight Central Time. At this magic hour, the waxing gibbous moon will be 361,876 kilometers (224,861 miles) distant. Contrast this ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March, 26, 2010: Moon swings

Earthsky Tonight — March, 26, 2010: Moon swings close to Regulus

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Can you find the star that is shining close to the big and bright waxing gibbous moon tonight? That is Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. Regulus is the only first-magnitude star to sit almost exactly on the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the Earth’s orbital plane projected outward onto the sphere of stars. The ecliptic is often shown on sky charts, because the moon and planets are always found on or ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March 25, 2010: Moon and Mars

Earthsky Tonight — March 25, 2010: Moon and Mars guide to Beehive star cluster

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you observed the moon last night, you know that the planet Mars appeared to the upper left of the moon. This evening, you will find Mars as a bright orangish “star” to the upper right of the moon. You will need a medium sized telescope and good seeing conditions to see much on Mars, but a small telescope or even a good pair of binoculars will show you many features on the moon. The large dark spots are lava plains or ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — March 24, Moon close to Mars

Earthsky Tonight — March 24, Moon close to Mars

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you have been tracking the moon over the past few evenings, you know that it has been passing through some of the major players in the late winter, early spring skies. It skimmed the Pleiades star cluster on Saturday, then it plodded through Taurus the Bull, across Gemini the Twins and after midnight tonight it slips into Cancer the Crab. However, unlike Taurus and Gemini, Cancer is a very faint constellation, often not ... Full Story

Earthsky Tonight — Earthsky Tonight

Earthsky Tonight — Earthsky Tonight

Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Tonight, the waxing gibbous moon shines in front of the constellation Gemini, and is flanked by two beautiful stars. To the north of the moon is Capella, the beacon star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. To the moon’s south you will find Procyon, the brightest light in the constellation Canis Minor the Little Dog. When you look at the moon at the same time each day, the moon appears to be farther east of where it ... Full Story

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