Eye On The Night Sky For Tuesday, March 31

I'm Mark Breen.

Welcome to Night Sky for Tuesday, March 31st.

March as you've likely heard goes out like a lamb.

Long considered a weather reference, it actually fits the skies much better, as every

march ends with the celestial lamb, a really the mature ram areas settling into the western

skies.

However, the brilliant moon, just a day shy of its full phase, makes that a very challenging

group to see.

Besides, the moonlight allows us to highlight two spectacular luminaries dazzling stargazers

in the evenings this week.

We'll start with Venus, that spark of light in the western twilight becoming increasingly

noticeable as the weeks pass.

It inches higher with each passing night thanks to its orbit that has taken it from behind

the sun the winter, now emerging as it curves out and away from the sun.

Starting in the western twilight, Venus appears just right of due west, low and angling

lower to the right through the next hour and a half, setting very close to nine o'clock.

Wednesday, Jupiter makes its appearance quite high in the southwest on Night Sky.

Night Sky is a production of Vermont public in the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium.