In the Sky This Month

The Moon descends the western sky this evening, with the star Regulus to the left or upper left of the Moon. Regulus is the heart of Leo, the lion, and one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

Cor Caroli, the Heart of Charles, is the brightest star of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. It’s to the right of the handle of the Big Dipper as night falls, and wheels above the dipper later on. It consists of two stars in a wide orbit around each other.

The Lyrid meteor shower should be at its best tonight. You need dark skies to see it. Even at its peak, the shower produces no more than a dozen or so meteors per hour. But the Moon is out of the way, so if you have a good viewing spot it’s worth a look.

The planet Mercury just peeks into view in the east at dawn sky over the next few days. It looks like a fairly bright star. It is quite low, though, so you need a clear horizon to see it. The planet stands a little higher as seen from southerly latitudes.

The Crab Nebula, which is the debris from an exploded star, stands close above the Moon this evening. It is an easy target for small telescopes. Its filaments of gas and dust resemble the outline of a crab.

The Moon is in the west during twilight this evening. Aldebaran will stand close to the upper left of the Moon. The bright orange star represents the eye of Taurus, the celestial bull.

Venus is the brilliant “evening star,” low in the west at sunset. It outshines all the other planets and stars in the night sky. It’s especially prominent tonight because it stands close to the crescent Moon.

The word “planet” comes from a Greek word that means wanderer, because each of the planets moves against the background of “fixed” stars. Occasionally, though, a planet stands still against that background. Mercury and Saturn both reach such a standstill this month.

A pair of abandoned constellations sit on the back of Camelopardalis, the giraffe, which in the northern sky as night falls. One is the reindeer, while the other is the harvest keeper. Both were created to honor events of the 18th century.

The star 47 Ursae Majoris lies near the bowl of the Big Dipper. In a dark sky, it is barely visible to the unaided eye. It is home to a planet, which is too faint to see. Astronomers discovered the planet because its gravity tugs at the star.