Lovely Quarter Moon!!

Clear skies and a quarter moon make for a lovely evening of sky gazing. The moon has pulled away from bright Venus and is approaching Mars but is still one night away from its closest encounter this cycle. Jupiter is too close to the horizon to be easily seen, ducking directly behind the sun on May 13 but returning in late May as a morning star. Saturn, hanging with Spica in Virgo, rises quickly into the evening sky and will get the moon flyby on May 3rd & 4th. There is fine ring viewing in telescopes!!
Hope for clear skies for the June 5th, 6pm-ish start to Venus' last transit of the sun for 105 years.
Go out and look!!

Earth Shine Alert

The waxing crescent moon is in the earth shine zone for a few days.  Having just slid between the earth and sun and only showing us a sliver of it's light side the moon's dark side will be lit the next several days by light bouncing from the lighted earth to the dark moon and back: earth shine.  While the crescent gets noticed, a closer look will show the outline of the dark side of the moon. But, only for this week, as the moon approaches the first quarter, the sunny side will wash out the earth shine.
Venus still rules the west, Jupiter slips lower and lower below it, Mars shines red high in the southeast and Saturn is just peeking above the eastern horizon at sunset. 4 planets, scattered about the ecliptic at dark, check 'em out.

Winter Constellations Slip Away

The Winter Hexagon eases lower into the west each night as we continue our trip around the sun. Venus is actually just inside the Hexagon between Auriga and Aldebaran and far outshines all other evening stars and planets. Jupiter is about 15 degrees above the horizon as dark settles in and was hard to see in high clouds tossed ahead of the massive storm system that spawned over 120 tornadoes in the plains yesterday.  Mars, second only to Venus in brightness, is now higher than the Goddess of Love and glowing red-orange almost due south at dusk, just east of much dimmer Regulus, the heart of Leo.
Saturn is at opposition to earth today, directly behind us from the sun, and is rising low in the east in Virgo as the sun sets. While highest for viewing at 1am EDT, the giant ringed world is up all night tonight!!
It's still warm as June outside tonight, check it out.

Venus and Mars Rule the Evening Sky

Bright Venus continues to hang high in the west above Taurus' Aldebaran while reddish Mars is even higher in the southeast, still just below Leo's Regulus. Jupiter continues to fade lower each night in the western sky, losing its orbit race with the earth. Saturn rises just after sunset in the east, still outshining its neighbor Spica, alpha Virgo.
The waning gibbous moon makes for a bright midnight and early morning as it slides above Scorpio tonight and on toward the teapot of Sagittarius.
If the clouds stay away tonight get out and check out the setting constellation's of winter and the rising one's of spring.

Bright Planets, Big Moon

Venus continues to rule the western sky at dusk while its winter companion, Jupiter, continues to fall closer to the horizon as both Earth and Venus speed away from the King of the Planets.
Mars hangs to the left of Regulus near the lion's belly and outshines everything in the southern sky with the Moon sliding into its waning cycle after yesterday's full moon.
Saturn rises higher and earlier every night in Virgo, near half as bright Spica. Saturn will be directly behind the earth from the sun on April 15 and be up all night. The rings are tipped pretty well for viewing!!
Mercury is pulling away from us and will require binoculars for early morning risers.
The cool, dry air tonight will make for lovely star gazing.
Get out and look around!!