Sky Watch March & April 2008
As another beautiful Virgin Island day dissolves into a wonderful tropical night, high in the western night sky you can look for the red planet Mars. Mars is seen against the background of stars of the constellation Gemini, the Twins. Two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, mark the heads of the twin brothers.
Gemini is one of the twelve star groups or constellations which form a band encircling the sky, the zodiac. It is to the zodiac that we must look to see the Sun, the Moon or the planets. Eastward along the zodiac following Gemini are the faint stars of Cancer, the Crab. Still farther East, really almost overhead, is the bright star Regulus the heart of Leo, the Lion. Right now Regulus looks like the second brightest star in this part of the sky, but that brighter star-like object is not a star but another planet, Saturn.
Regulus marks the heart of Leo, the Lion. Regulus is the period at the base of a backwards question mark. The top of the question marks forms the lion’s head. A little higher in the sky a triangle made of fainter stars forms the lion’s hind quarters and tail.
Continuing eastward along the zodiac, look to the southeast for the bright star Spica. Spica is a grain of wheat being held in the hand of Virgo, the goddess of the Harvest.
If you are facing east, north is to your right. Turn to the right and look about halfway between the horizon and Saturn for the most famous of all star groups, the Big Dipper. Seven reasonably bright stars form the Big Dipper; three form the dipper’s handle and four more the bowl. The Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The bowl of the dipper is the bear’s body, fainter stars’ mark the bear’s legs and head. And the three stars of the bowl? They mark the bear’s long tail. There is only one problem; bears do not have long tails! According to one legend, a mighty hunter was fighting the bear, grabbed the bear by the tail and flung the bear into the heavens. In doing so, he stretched the bear’s tail!
If you are awake between about 2:00 a.m. and dawn, look to the eastern sky for the bright planet Jupiter. Jupiter is seen against the background of stars of Sagittarius, the Archer.
