Fri., March 14 6:55 6:46
Sat., March 15 6:54 6:47
Sun., March 16 6:52 6:48
Mon., March 17 6:50 6:50
Tues., March 18 6:49 6:51
Wed., March 19 6:47 6:52
Thurs., March 20 6:45 6:53
Fri., March 21 6:43 6:54
Spring arrives on Thursday at 1:48 a.m. For those who like to keep track of such events, this is an unusually early start for the season and it is due to this being a leap year. Usually spring arrives a day later on the 21st.
With the arrival of spring, daylight and night time are about the same. This will change as daylight gets the upper hand over night.
The moon dominates our night skies for the week ahead and passes by two planets.
The moon tonight is one day past first quarter and appears high in the east near the red planet Mars. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. Mars has lost a lot of the brightness it had last winter. Use the moon as a convenient guide to find the red planet. Mars is the only “star” in the area with a reddish color.
On Tuesday night the gibbous moon appears in the zodiacal constellation Leo, near the bright ringed-planet Saturn.
The brightest planet in our sky, Venus, is low in the southeastern sky before sunrise. The planet resides in the glare of dawn and is only viewable a short time prior to sunrise.
In the southeastern sky, Jupiter is the easiest planet to spot, though not as bright as Venus. Jupiter is in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius.