Moon and Aldebaran
Aldebaran, the bright orange eye of Taurus, the bull, accompanies the Moon down the western sky this evening. It stands close to the left of the Moon and is easy to pick out.
T Pyxidis
A star in the system T Pyxidis is taking gas from a companion star. Every few decades it erupts, blasting away more of the companion, so the companion could disappear. The system is low in the south at nightfall. You need a telescope to see T Pyxidis.
Sirius
Under a dark, clear sky, you may see a couple of thousand stars. The brightest is Sirius, which is well up in the south-southwest in early evening. The faintest stars visible to the unaided eye are only about one one-thousandth as bright as Sirius.
Spring Stars
Three of the “stars” of spring are climbing higher into the evening sky. Around 10 p.m., look high in the south for Regulus in Leo, the lion. Spica, in Virgo, is in the east-southeast, with yellow-orange Arcturus well to its upper left in Bootes, the herdsman.
Cat’s Eye
Draco, the dragon, slithers around the north and northeast at nightfall and moves high across the sky later on. It’s home to the Cat’s Eye Nebula—a glowing cloud of gas and dust expelled by a dying star. Photographs reveal swirls and loops of green and red.
NGC 4361
The brightest stars of Corvus, the crow, outline a shape like a sail. It flutters in the southeast this evening. Telescopes reveal a puff of light near the top of the sail. Known as NGC 4361, it is a planetary nebula — a star that’s in its death throes.
Corvus
Corvus, the crow, is low in the southeast at nightfall, to the right of the bright star Spica, the leading light of Virgo. Four stars form an angled box that looks like a sail. A fainter star is near the right point of the sail.
Little Dipper
Polaris, the North Star, anchors the northern sky. It also anchors the Little Dipper. At nightfall, the dipper stretches roughly parallel to the northern horizon, with Polaris at the tip of the handle and the bowl to the right.
Future Blasts
Orion is in the southwest as darkness falls. Its belt of three stars is parallel to the horizon. Four brighter stars form a rectangle around the belt. All seven of those stars will end their lives with titanic explosions known as supernovas.
Moon and Jupiter
Look for Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, above the Moon at first light tomorrow. It looks like a brilliant star. The fainter planet Saturn stands to their upper right.