Welcome to Spring

Today is the first full day of spring. Spring arrived yesterday at 12:57 p.m. The length of our day and night is about the same and tonight all the constellations we associate with spring slowly parade across the sky.

The bright star Arcturus rises in the east at about 8 p.m. Arcturus is the principal star in the constellation Bootes. Bootes is a mythological shepherd, a perfect constellation to mark the season of warm open fields and grazing. The stars in the constellation are the shape of a large kite. Arcturus marks the bottom of the kite, where one might expect to see a kite tail.

The constellation Big Dipper is an easy find in spring, rising high in the east. The top two stars point to Polaris, the North Star. Find the handle of the Big Dipper and the four stars point outward towards Arcturus.

Higher in the east, above Arcturus, there is the zodiacal constellation Leo, a favorite.

Virgo, one of the largest zodiacal constellations, rises in the southeast. Virgo has the bright star Spica, which outshines all the stars in the east. The brilliant red planet Mars is nearby.

Gibbous Moon

Tonight’s gibbous moon rises late. The moon is near the zodiacal constellation Scorpius and near the bright planet Saturn.

Jupiter

The largest planet and the most brilliant celestial object overhead, except the moon, is Jupiter. It is high in the sky at sunset, almost overhead.