Updated March 31, 2025
NOTE: you can now follow the discussion below with a free planetarium program called Stellarium. To access the web version, go to https://stellarium-web.org/ and allow it to access your location to provide you with an accurate simulation of your nighttime sky. Experiment with it to learn more about the constellations mentioned below, and more.
The waxing crescent Moon has reappeared in the evening sky. It is easily visible relatively low in the west-northwest as it gets dark this evening (3/31), with Uranus about 8 degrees above and left of it. Uranus is getting lower in the evening sky, and is 8 degrees below and left of the Pleiades. One evening later, the waxing crescent Moon will be 2 or 3 degrees below the Pleiades. Then on April 2, the Moon pairs with Jupiter, the current “evening star”. Jupiter (magnitude -2.1) is now high in the west as it gets dark, and it sets between midnight and 1 am. Jupiter currently makes a straight line between Aldebaran below it and El Nath above it. The Moon comes within 5 degrees on the 2nd.
On the evening of April 3, the thickening waxing crescent Moon forms a roughly equilateral triangle with beta (El Nath) and zeta Tauri, the horn tip stars below it. The Moon reaches First Quarter on April 4, when it enters Gemini and is situated below Pollux and Cancer. Mars, high in the south as it gets dark in the early days of April, continues to fade (now at magnitude +0.4) and is making a bent line with Pollux and Cancer. This line will gradually straighten evening by evening, becoming a straight line on April 10. Five days earlier, Mars gets a “visit” from the waxing gibbous Moon. On the evening of April 5, the Moon will be 3 to 4 degrees from Mars.
I noticed during the mid-evening (about 9:30 pm local time) of March 29th, that Jupiter, Sirius, and Mars made a close-to-equilateral triangle fairly high in the west southwest. Jupiter was sinking toward the western horizon, Sirius toward the southwest, and Mars high in the west southwest.
Orion is starting to decline toward the southwest through the evening. The belt feature becomes horizontal at some point during the evening. The time this happens depends on latitude and where in your time zone you are located, but it will happen nearly four minutes earlier each day. The Pleiades and the rest of Taurus lead it across the sky and are high in the western sky early evening. Bright Sirius with the rest of Canis Major follow Orion. The stars and constellations of winter are now mainly in the western half of the sky while the stars and constellations of spring ascend the eastern half of the sky.
A line drawn through Castor and Pollux and continuing southward by 26 degrees will end up at the faint head of Hydra, the Sea Serpent. This is a subtle grouping of five stars, all third and fourth magnitude. These will show up easier in binoculars. Continue the line further by another 15 degrees and you will come to Alphard, the 2nd magnitude orange star that stands out among the rest in this part of the sky. Another way to locate the Serpent head is to look almost midway between Procyon and Regulus.
Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, is visible relatively high in the eastern sky as it gets dark. Extending to the left is the backward question mark asterism (or informal star pattern) known as “the sickle of Leo”. Also appearing in the evening sky as it gets dark is the “Spring Star”, Arcturus. To locate the star, follow the curving handle of the Big Dipper, now high in the northeast, and continue the curve toward the horizon to spot the rising location of the spring star.
The large asterism, the Winter Hexagon, is now mostly in the western half of the these late-March evenings. Sirius, the bright “dog star” is at the bottom of this shape. Go clockwise from there to the left to Procyon, then up to Castor and Pollux, then bright Capella high in the northeast, then down to Aldebaran, then down to Rigel at the lower right corner of Orion, then back over to Sirius. This forms a large, somewhat distended hexagon, with bright Betelgeuse just off center in the Hexagon. Eventually parts of the Hexagon will set, leaving behind the Spring Arch, made up of Procyon, the Twins, and Capella, all along the western horizon. This is visible as such just after midnight during these late March/early April nights.
It is interesting to compare the colors of Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Mars. Aldebaran is an orange giant, spectral type K5 III; while Betelgeuse is a red giant, spectral type M1-M2 Ia. Betelgeuse appears brighter visually than Aldebaran, so it may actually appear to be paler orange than Aldebaran due to the phenomenon that brighter objects appear paler in color than what they would otherwise be. Compare these with Mars over to the left. Try binoculars and try to defocus the objects to bring out the color hues better. Do this with some of the other bright stars in the evening sky to appreciate the variety of colors visible these late-winter evenings.
Once Arcturus is well up mid- to late-evening, look for the bent kite asterism of Bootes, extending left of Arcturus for a length of 20 degrees or so. The left side of the Kite is bent slightly upward. On the opposite side of Arcturus, about 20 degrees or so, is the bright star Spica.
The predawn sky resembles the evening sky around August 1. The stars and constellations of spring are descending in the western half of the sky, and the summer constellations are now found along the meridian from due south to due north. The constellations of fall are just staring to make their appearance along the eastern horizon, including Pegasus. The Great Square stands on one of its ends on the eastern horizon during early twilight. The summer triangle is high in the eastern sky, with bright Vega leading the way, well up in the northeast as it starts to get light. Deneb is visible, along with the northern cross, fairly high in the east northeast, and Altair (with much of Aquila) is also fairly high in the east.
There is one notable addition to the predawn sky that had not been there for a while, a bright “morning star”. Now almost ten days past its inferior conjunction with the Sun, Venus has sprung up into the eastern sky, being visible about 30 minutes before sunrise to the right of the balancing Great Square of Pegasus. Venus gets higher and easier to see with each passing morning. Mercury, Saturn, and Neptune remain hidden in the glare of the Sun.
Go to “This Week’s Sky at a Glance”, where you will find the current “Sky at a Glance” (now for the week ending April 6). There are lots of links to interesting news stories and additional observing projects that one can look into.
Solar observations continue, and the Sun is becoming active again. There was an X1.1 flare last Friday the 28th during the normal time we’d be observing (15:19 UT) but the skies were cloudy with scattered rain. Daily checks on the Sun, in red continuum light and H-alpha light, continue as the weather, and schedules, allow. The most recent images from Prairie View Solar Observatory can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/solar-observations-2025/.
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Images of the recent total lunar eclipse (14 March) can be viewed here.
We observed two solar eclipses less than six months apart. Check out images from these celestial events at this site.
We observed and imaged the total lunar eclipsed that occurred during the predawn hours of 8 November 2022. The images and report can be viewed at https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/total-lunar-eclipse-2022-1-2/. Partial lunar eclipse began at 3:09 am CST, total eclipse started at 4:16 am CST, maximum eclipse (when the Moon should appear darkest) at 4:59 am CST, total eclipse ended at 5:42 am CST, and partial eclipse finished at 6:49 am. The subtle penumbral shading was detectable some 30 to 40 minutes before and after the partial stages. Lots more information can be found at Sky and Telescope’s eclipse page.
Over a year ago, a Total Lunar Eclipse, with totality lasting nearly 85 minutes, was visible across North and South America (except the far northwest part of North America). Partial eclipse began at 9:28 pm CDT (May 15), totality began at 10:29 pm, mid eclipse was 11:12 pm, total eclipse ended at 11:54 pm and partial eclipse ended at 12:56 pm, CDT (May 16). We did observe the event and got pictures, check out this website for these.
Jupiter was hit by a meteor in 2021, see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/jupiter-whacked-again-japanese-astronomers-record-possible-impact/, for more information on what is the 11th confirmed observation of a fireball to burn up in its atmosphere. We plan to organize a campaign to watch for fireballs in Venus’ atmosphere early this summer; check back for more details in the near future. There was another event documented on 28 August 2023. You can read all about it at this website.
The Perseverance rover continues to perform wonderful feats of science, from finding evidence of a raging river, to making 10 g of pure oxygen from the Martian air to watching a small drone helicopter take its 51st flight over the Martian wasteland. For more information on it and other activity on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov. Also, Curiosity has returned some beautiful sunset pictures of cirrus-like clouds in the Martian sky.
Observations of the partial phase of the May 2021 lunar eclipse (taken with smartphone and a University telescope), along with unfiltered, stacked galaxy and cluster images, can be viewed from the project update website https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. We are currently experiencing an extended spell of inclement weather, preventing much observing, but as conditions improve we plan to resume nighttime observations along with regular solar observations. Information on all the eclipses that will occur in 2022 can be found at this link.
The PVO complex has 3 domes, including the existing “Classic” Solar Observatory, and two new domes. For updates on this progress check out https://www.pvamu.edu/pvso/cosmic-corner/project-summary-2/. Also, more information and images can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/view/saganti-astro/home. The two newer domes contain our Meade 16-inch advanced telescope (east dome, an Astrohaven clamshell-type dome) and a new 0.6 meter (24-inch) PlaneWave Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope (west dome, an Ash dome). The design features these two domes situated east and west of a visitor’s center, which is immediately north of the existing Solar Observatory. Work is planned to resume on the 24-inch in early 2024.