The Sky This Week, 2014 April 1 - 8 Signs of summer in the night...

The Moon returns to the evening sky this week, springing upward from
the western horizon as she waxes through her crescent phases. First
Quarter occurs on the 7th at 4:31 am Eastern daylight Time. This is a
good week to explore our nearest neighbor as she goes through her
crescent phases. Her high declination gives her a lofty perch on
successive nights, showing her to good advantage. Look for her just
four degrees west of the bright star Aldebaran on the evening of the
3rd. On the 6th she passes just over five degrees south of bright
Jupiter.

As April opens we can still find the bright stars of the Great Winter
Circle lingering in the west and southwestern skies as dusk deepens to
darkness. This is the last month we'll have to see these bright
patterns in a dark evening sky until late this fall. The way this past
winter has been, I, for one, won't be sad to see them go. As much as I
enjoy looking at Orion striding over a cold, snowy landscape, it's
time for him and his friends to give way to stars of warmer times.
Orion's most striking naked-eye feature to me has always been the
ruddy glowing coal of the star Betelgeuse, which marks the Hunter's
shoulder. Betelgeuse now sets just before midnight, but if you look to
the southeastern sky at this time you'll see another glowing coal
rising out of the haze. This is the star Antares, brightest star in
the summer constellation of Scorpius. Both Betelgeuse and Antares are
"red supergiants", stars which are near the end of their evolutionary
tracks. They are swollen hulks of massive stars whose tenuous outer
envelopes would gobble up the planets in our solar system out to the
orbit of Mars. They have enormous but relatively cool surfaces, hence
their distinct ruddy hue. In mythology the lowly scorpion was the one
creature that Orion couldn't overcome, so the gods placed the two
adversaries on opposite sides of the sky. There are a number of other
similarities between the stars of these two constellations, but we'll
save those for another time.

You still have a few hours of darkness to enjoy the view of Jupiter in
the evening sky. The giant planet becomes visible near the meridian
almost as soon as the Sun sets and dominates the western sky once it's
fully dark. You'll have a good view of him until the wee hours with
the naked eye, but if you're using a telescope to peruse him he'll
start to settle into more turbulent air by midnight. His disc has
diminished by almost 10 arcseconds in apparent diameter since
opposition back in January, but he still offers the most generous
surface to look at of all the planets. His atmosphere remains in
constant turmoil; on the last night of March I spotted a large feature
that wasn't there a week ago. It must be a ferocious storm, because it
is about as long as the circumference of the Earth!

Mars is quickly moving into the evening sky and is currently at his
best and brightest for the current apparition. Opposition occurs on
the 8th when the red planet rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. At
this time his telescopic disc will be just over 15 arcseconds in
apparent diameter, less than half that of Jupiter. Nonetheless,
careful scrutiny of Mars through a telescope will reveal tantalizing
bits of detail to the patient observer. The planet's shrinking north
polar cap and transient clouds over its high volcanic peaks have been
very prominent of late.

Saturn will reach opposition in early May and is following on Mars'
heels. Even though he's quite low in the sky his mysterious rings are
tipped very favorably in our direction. Almost any telescope should
show them. The ringed planet is a fine reward for observers who spend
a few hours trying to tease detail from the ruddy disc of Mars.

Venus greets early risers in the southeast during morning twilight.
There is no mistaking this dazzling world, but you'll need a clear
horizon to get a good look at her.


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