The signature constellations of spring climb across the sky this month. Leo is in full view by late evening as March begins, and about sunset as it ends. Virgo follows a couple of hours behind the lion. Venus begins its reign as the Evening Star, which will last until autumn.
The full Moon of March is known as the Sap Moon, Worm Moon, or Lenten Moon.
Apogee March 10
Perigee March 22
Moon phases are Central Time.
The crescent Moon will squeak past the bright star Aldebaran early tomorrow. They will be separated by just a degree or two as they climb into view a couple of hours before sunrise. From northern Minnesota, the Moon will pass in front of the star.
Moon-free summer evenings are the best times of year to catch the splendor of the Milky Way. This hazy band of light represents the combined glow of millions of stars. They outline the disk of the Milky Way galaxy.
The evening star has a date with the lion the next couple of nights. They are due west at nightfall. The “evening star” is Venus, our closest planetary neighbor. It will snuggle close to the star Regulus, the heart of Leo, the lion.
With the Sun beating down on the northern hemisphere, it’s hard to realize that we’re farthest from the Sun for the entire year today. We’re about a million and a half miles farther than the average distance of 93 million miles.
The planet Mercury is putting in a decent appearance in the early evening sky. It’s quite low as twilight fades, to the north of due west. It looks like a moderately bright star, far to the lower right of Venus, the “evening star.”
A small semicircle of stars crowns the evening sky: Corona Borealis. It appears high overhead around 10 or 11 p.m. The crown’s brightest star is Alphecca, which means “bright one of the dish” – a reference to the constellation’s bowl shape.
The binary system known as 16 Cygni is about 70 light-years away, in the constellation Cygnus, which is in the east and northeast in early evening. Both stars are nearly identical to the Sun, and one of them is orbited by a giant planet.
Aquila, the eagle, is in the eastern sky at nightfall. Its brightest star, Altair, is at the lower right corner of the Summer Triangle. A star named Tarazed is just above Altair. Tarazed is a giant star that is nearing the end of its life.
The Summer Triangle is well up in the eastern sky at nightfall, and passes directly overhead after midnight. Vega, its brightest point, is at the top of the triangle in early evening. Deneb is the left point, with Altair to the lower right.
The gibbous Moon has a famous companion tonight: the planet Mars. It is to the lower right of the Moon as they climb into good view, around midnight, and almost directly below the Moon at first light tomorrow. Mars looks like a bright orange star.
