In the Sky This Month

Pyxis, the celestial compass, is quite low in the southeast at nightfall. It is a short streak of faint stars that aims toward the remnants of the Argo, the ship that carried Jason and the Argonauts.

Space rocks constantly pelt Earth, forming “shooting stars.” Most of them are so small that the meteors are faint, so you need a dark sky to see them. A few, caused by larger rocks, form fireballs, which are bright enough to see even from bright cities.

Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky, scoots low across the south on early March nights, but only for those south of about Dallas or Little Rock. As night falls, it is almost directly below Sirius, the night sky’s brightest star.

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, arcs across the southwest on March nights. It’s in the south at nightfall and wheels westward later on. Not only is it bright, it’s also twinkly, shifting from blue to red to white in the blink of an eye.

The Moon tonight cozies up to the star Regulus, the bright heart of Leo, the celestial lion. At their closest as seen from most of the United States, they will be separated by just a whisker.

The Moon is closest to Earth for its current orbit today, a point known as perigee. The Moon will be full on March 1, so the combination of perigee and an almost-full Moon will produce above-average tides.

An obscure cat known as Lynx pads high across the sky at this time of year. It stands high in the north-northeast in early to mid evening, about half way between the outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper and the bright twins of Gemini.

The constellation Monoceros is well up in the southeast in early evening, between the bright stars Procyon and Betelgeuse. A telescope reveals that the unicorn’s second-brightest star actually consists of three stars, all of which shine blue-white.

The planet Venus, the brilliant “evening star,” is returning to view. It is quite low in the west at sunset, so any trees or buildings along the horizon will block it from view. If you have a clear horizon, though, you may be able to pick it out.

The bright orange star Aldebaran, which marks the eye of Taurus, the bull, stands to the lower right of the Moon as night falls and leads the Moon down the western sky later on. The star is about 65 light-years from Earth.