From Sunday night into the wee hours of Monday morning, we will experience a meteor shower. Meteors, also called shooting stars, will appear sporadically through out the night. Unfortunately, a near full moon will obstruct our being able to see most of them. The Lyrid meteor shower is an annual event. The meteors appear to come from the zodiacal constellation Lyra, one of the smallest constellations in the summer and late spring sky.

The crescent moon appears in the southwestern sky this weekend. Tonight the moon is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. It moves through the zodiacal constellation Gemini over the weekend. These are the last you'll see of these two winter constellations. The two now hug the western sky and set not too long after the sun. This is a time to look forward to the constellations of spring.

The long awaited solar eclipse takes place in the afternoon of Monday, April 8. While this is not a total solar eclipse for Martha's Vineyard and much of New England there is plenty to watch. The eclipse is most notable at 3:25 p.m. when more than 90 per cent of the sun is blocked by the moon for ten minutes. The timing and the amount of totality will vary depending on where you are located.

The first evidence of the moon crossing over the sun will be noticeable through solar eclipse glasses after 2 p.m. and the whole show ends for us around 4:30 p.m.

Two evening planets are visible in the southwestern sky this coming week. We've been watching Jupiter through the winter and now in the early evening, the planet is low in the southwestern sky.
Look underneath Jupiter and to your right for the planet Mercury. Mercury is now visible only for a short time after sunset amid the light of twilight. Mercury is not as bright as Jupiter, but you use Jupiter to find it.
Don't wait too late in the evening. Mercury sets pretty quickly. A pair of binoculars will help immensely.

Late Sunday night, or more precisely in wee hours of Monday the brilliant full moon, the Mud Moon, is going to dim. The moon will drop in brightness beginning after midnight. The dimmest moment will be at 3:13 a.m. and the eclipse will end at 5:30 a.m.

For those up early enough in the morning, take a look low in the eastern sky before dawn. The brilliant planet Venus appears close to the much more distant Saturn. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Aquarius. Venus is always the easiest planet to see. Fainter, Saturn takes a bit more effort. The two will be closest on the morning of Thursday, March 21, two days after the first day of spring.

Take your time and look to the right of Venus and you'll find the red planet Mars, also in Aquarius, but slightly higher in the East, thus easier to see.

Moon and Regulus

The brightest planet in our western sky is descending closer and closer towards the horizon. Throughout the winter Jupiter was high in our evening sky. It drew attention by being so brilliant and so high. That is changing with the changing seasons.

On Sunday morning the last quarter moon appears nearest to Antares, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. For those living in the Southeastern United States and to the west, the moon will occult, pass over the star. For us, the two are just really close. The event takes place around 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Scorpius is a constellation we associate mostly with summer. The constellation is one of the southernmost zodiac constellations. We all have memories of standing out on a summer night and looking South and seeing these stars appear right over the ocean.

Tomorrow night's full moon, the Snow Moon, will rise in the east at about the same time the sun sets in the west. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Leo, a constellation we associate mostly with spring.This moon is a small moon. The moon will be at apogee or close to it, which means it is farthest from the Earth than most times.

The moon's orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. Sometimes it is close, closest is perigee. Sometimes it is farthest, apogee. The moon will be in apogee on Sunday.

The two morning planets, Venus and Mars, are really close together.