The Sky This Week, 2013 April 16 -23

The Moon brightens the evening skyas she waxes through her late
crescent and gibbous phases. First Quarter occurs on the 18th at
8:31am Eastern Daylight Time. Look for Luna less than two degrees
above the star Alhena, which marks the"foot" of Gemini twin Pollux, on
the evening of the 16th. On the 20th she lies just over five degrees
south of Regulus, the heart of Leo, the Lion. By the week's end she's
drawing a bead on Spica, brightest star of the constellation Virgo.
The Moon will pass very close to the star early next week.
Forty one years ago today I had the privilege of watching the
penultimate Apollo mission depart the Earth for the Moon. Apollo 16
thundered off the launch pad on a cloudless Florida day destined for
the area of the Moon known as Descartes. My view from the press site
will forever be engraved in my memory as the amazing power of the
Saturn-V rocket outshone the Sun and shook the Earth below me. Days
later I rushed between the television in the living room and my
telescope as John Young and Charlie Duke explored the crater-pocked
landscape they landed on. I have been looking at the Moon at almost
every opportunity since then. Somehow, knowing that a dozen of our
species have walked on its distant ancient surface has only added to
the mystique that hasenthralled telescopic observers since the time of
Galileo. This is the perfect week for you to get to know our nearest
neighbor in space as a place rather than just a bright light in the
sky. The Moon is an ideal object to explore with the most modest of
instruments. Even asimple pair of binoculars will reveal craters and
mountain ranges, and each increase in aperture of a telescope will
show ever more details. While it is impossible to see the evidence of
our first tentative exploratory steps in any Earthbound telescope,
somehow theview of the Moon for me is differentknowing that we have
actually been there. As Luna's phase increases over the course of the
week you cansee an astonishing variety of landforms come into view as
the sunrise terminator slowly crawls across the landscape. With a bit
of practice you can identify many of the Moon's more prominent
landmarks, and a good lunar atlas will help you pinpoint the six areas
that we humans have explored. We often say that the Moon is "looked
over, then overlooked" by amateur astronomers, but for many of us it
is an enthralling place to visit each month. Take the time to give
Luna alook this week, and you may make a new friend for life.
The brightening Moon washes out the dark background of the sky
thatholds countless remote galaxies in the late evening sky. However,
there are a number of bright objectsthat await your discovery during
these brighter nights. We'll get to the week's planets in a few
moments, but nights with bright Moonlight are perfect for chasing down
double stars. Two of the year's best doubles are in prime observing
position now. The first is Mizar, the star that lies at the"bend" in
the "handle" of the Big Dipper. Keen eyes or binoculars will show a
faint star next to Mizar, buttraining a telescope on Mizar itself will
show a close pair of blue-white stars that slowly orbit each other ina
centuries-long dance. Another prominent double is the star Algieba,
which lies about eight degrees north of the bright star Regulus in
Leo. Point a small telescope toward Algieba and you'll be rewarded
with a fine pair of golden suns suspended in the dark field of view.
There are hundreds of other interesting doubles in the springtime sky,
so when you tire of looking at the Moon see how many you can track
down.
The early evening sky still hosts Jupiter, but the giant planet's time
in the limelight is rapidly drawing toa close. It is now difficult to
get a decent view of his turbulent clouds as he settles into the
denser layers of air over the western horizon, but you can still
easily follow the anticsof his four bright moons. He's not quite done
with his evening show yet, though. A month from now he will be part of
a spectacular grouping with Venus and Mercury!
Saturn is now just under two weeks away from opposition. You'll find
the ringed planet rising in the southeast at around 8:30 pm, and he's
in good position to observe by 11:00. You should be able to see his
famous rings in almost any telescope, and each increase in aperture
will reveal more detain in the rings and several of his small icy
moons. Pay particular attention to the contrast between the rings and
the planet's disk right now. When opposition occurs you may see a
dramatic difference! We'll have more on the so-called"opposition
effect" next week.

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