The Sky This Week for March 29 to April 2
Sirus shines magnitude -1.5, a “young Moon,” and other bright things to look for in the sky this week.
By Richard Talcott
Wednesday, March 29
With an age of 4.5 billion years, “young” might not seem an appropriate word to describe our Moon. But tonight, you have a nice opportunity to see what astronomers call a “young Moon” — a slender crescent visible in the early evening sky. With New Moon having occurred two nights ago, only 5 percent of our satellite’s disk appears illuminated after sunset tonight. You should notice an ashen light faintly illuminating the Moon’s dark side. This is “earthshine,” sunlight reflected by Earth that reaches the Moon and then reflects back to our waiting eyes. With binoculars, scan some 10° to the Moon’s lower right and you also should pick up the glow from Mercury, which shines brightly at magnitude –0.6.
Thursday, March 30
The waxing crescent Moon climbs significantly higher in the evening sky with each passing day, and tonight it serves as a guide to ruddy Mars. The planet stands about 7° (approximately one binocular field) to the Moon’s lower right. The pair appears nearly 20° high in the west once twilight fades to darkness and doesn’t set until after 10 p.m. local daylight time. The Red Planet shines at magnitude 1.5 among the background stars of Aries the Ram.
The Moon reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit around Earth, at 8:32 a.m. EDT. It then lies 226,088 miles (363,853 kilometers) away from us.
Friday, March 31
This evening, the waxing Moon sits on the western edge of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus the Bull. The 20-percent-lit crescent lies below and a little to the right of 1st-magnitude Aldebaran, the orange sun that marks the upper left corner of the V-shaped Hyades. In reality, however, the star is a foreground object that only appears along the same line of sight as the cluster.
Saturday, April 1
Mercury reaches greatest elongation at 6 a.m. EDT, and tonight marks the peak of its best evening apparition of 2017. The innermost planet lies 19° east of the Sun and stands 9° high in the western sky 45 minutes after sunset. It shines at magnitude –0.2 and shows up easily against the darkening sky. If you can’t spy Mercury right away, sweep the area with binoculars. A view of the inner world through a telescope reveals an 8″-diameter disk that appears 39 percent lit.
Sunday, April 2
After passing between the Sun and Earth just eight days ago, Venus already appears conspicuous in the predawn sky. It rises an hour before the Sun and climbs 6° above the eastern horizon 30 minutes later. The planet shines so brightly, at magnitude –4.2, that it shows up easily in the brightening twilight. A telescope will deliver spectacular views of the inner world’s 57″-diameter disk, which appears just 3 percent lit.
Source
Astronomy Magazine
Witches Of The Craft® 
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