Tomorrow Saturday night, the gibbous moon appears in close proximity to the the bright red planet Mars. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. Mars has lost a lot of its brilliance from just a few months ago. Mars is getting farther away from us, over 100,000 miles away now and that distance is growing, thus it is getting dimmer.
Mars and the Moon are a nice looking assembly. You'll have no trouble noticing Mars with its reddish glow. Not far away are the two brightest stars in Gemini, Pollux and Castor. Pollux is the closest to the moon and the brighter of the two.
A popular spring constellation, easy to find, is Boötes, the shepherd. The large constellation is rising in the north east after sunset. The arrangement of stars looks like a large kite, though it depicts a shepherd. The bright orange star Arcturus is at the bottom of the kite, where one might attach a tail.
Do you still have those solar eclipse safety glasses you tucked away some time ago. You've got an opportunity to use them again, a week from tomorrow, on Saturday, March 29 early in the morning.
There will be a partial solar eclipse, possibly visible from here, in the early morning. We have to say upfront that it will be irreversably harmful of you are not using those glasses.
Only a portion of the rising morning sun will be covered by the moon, making it especially dangerous. No one should ever look directly at the sun without protective glasses. It is serious.
Venus is ever so quickly slipping closer to the western horizon each night. The brightest planet that looks like an airplane approaching with landing lights has dropped considerably in the last few weeks. It will drop even more in March.
The nearly first quarter moon appears close to the bright planet Jupiter and the bright star Aldebaran on the evening of Wednesday, March 5. All three are in the zodiacal constellation Taurus and they are only six degrees apart, an impressive triangle.
Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus, and it is known to be huge.
The two brightest planets in our evening sky are Venus and Jupiter. This is a good time to take note of both, for Venus is beginning to slide closer and closer to the horizon.
Venus is brightest, because it is both the closest and it is covered by clouds.
Jupiter is bright, because it is the biggest planet in our solar system. It is prominent in our night sky, in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. The planet is 484 million miles away and getting farther away.
Venus is getting closer to us and will be closest early in March, but not visible.
Today, Valentine's Day, is a good time to be thinking about Venus tonight. Step outside shortly after sunset and look to the west for the brightest celestial object in our night sky, Venus. Venus is a spectacle and astronomers report that it is at its brightest.
It's brilliance is tied not just to its closeness but we are getting to see a larger portion of the cloud covered planet.
Next Wednesday's full moon, the Snow Moon, will be in the zodiacal constellation Leo. Leo is a constellation we associate more with spring than winter. The brightest star in the constellation is Regulus, one of a few bright stars in that area of the sky.
A team of workers digging near Five Corners this week discovered a patch of toxic, contaminated soil that may force a major environmental cleanup of the Beach Road extension area.
Contractors hired by the Massachusetts Highway Department found soil contaminated with gasoline and oil while digging on Beach Road extension next to the Wintertide Coffeehouse. The contractors were working on a drainage pipe project from Beach Road to Vineyard Haven harbor when they made the discovery.
