Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
On the evenings surrounding Monday, February 24, the swift orbital motion of the planet Mercury (dotted red path) will carry it upwards past Saturn, and close enough for the two planets to share the view in a low magnification telescope. After the sun has completely set from Sunday through Wednesday, use binoculars (orange circle) to […]
The moon will reach its new phase on Thursday, February 27 at 7:45 p.m. EST or 4:45 p.m. PST, which converts to 00:45 GMT on Friday. At that time our natural satellite will be located in Aquarius and only 1.9 degrees south of the sun. While new, the moon is travelling between Earth and the […]
Mercury will continue to climb higher above Saturn in the western sky after sunset each evening (red dotted path). For observers in the Americas on Friday, February 28, the very young crescent moon will pose between the two planets. All three objects will fit within the field of view of certain models of binoculars (orange […]
The western sky after sunset on Saturday, March 1 will provide us with a spectacular sight and a lovely photo opportunity. The sliver of a crescent moon will shine below Venus and above Mercury. Venus and the moon will linger for about an hour longer after Mercury sinks below the rooftops around 6:30 p.m. local […]
Once the has sky darkened on Tuesday evening, April 1, look in the lower part of the western sky, where the bright little Pleiades Star Cluster (aka The Seven Sisters, Subaru, and Messier 45) will be close enough to the 17%-illuminated waxing crescent moon for them all to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). […]