Beyond Bones

  Brilliant winter stars shift towards the southwest during March.  Dazzling Orion is almost due south at dusk.  His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel.  Orion’s belt points up to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull.  To Orion’s upper left are the twin stars Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of Gemini, […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware 2016 is a leap year. February will have 29 days as part of a four-year mathematical cycle that has been observed in the Gregorian calendar since 1582. The reason we do this? To make up for a slight discrepancy in the Earth’s orbit around the […]

Jupiter is almost overhead at dusk, but now a little toward the west. Face high in the west at dusk and look for the brightest thing there (unless the Moon is also there), as Jupiter outshines all stars we ever see at night. Saturn remains in the morning sky this month.  Look for it in […]

Venus leaves the evening sky in dramatic fashion this month.  Look west-southwest right as night falls for the brightest thing there except for the Moon.  Keep watching each clear night this month; you’ll see Venus noticeably lower to the horizon each passing day.  By March 20, Venus sets as twilight ends, and by the end […]