It had been ages since we have had an astronomy night, but the clouds finally gave way Sunday night and we spring's celestial sky. At first we could only see three out of four planets with Jupiter low in the west and Venus high above it; Venus was in its waning crescent phase. Mars was to the southeast, also its red due to its high concentration of iron oxide. Saturn turned up later that evening in the constellation Virgo, off to the left of Spica. Virgo the Virgin, Corvus the Crow, and Coma Bernices were visible around 10 P.M in the east. Additionally Leo the Lion could be seen with its tail (Denebola) pointing to Virgo. In the south was Hydra, Antlia, Sextans, the ship Argo, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Orion, and Lepus. The west had Auriga with the Kids below Capella. The Hyades in Taurus were visible under the binoculars near Aldebaran. Finally the north featured Ursa Major and Minor, with the Great Bear pointing to Polaris with its pointer stars and its arc pointing to Arcturus. Since we have not had a astronomy night in ages, I managed to learn to recognize a large assortment of new stars.
Total hours gazed at group event = 2 X 2 = 4!
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