Look up for Mars and a Venus-Jupiter pairing

Look up, nearly overhead, tonight, Monday February 27. The first quarter Moon will be about a degree away from Mars.

Stretch out your hand and see if you can fit your pinky between the two. Your pink is about a degree wide. Your three middle fingers measure about five degrees and your clenched fist about ten.

Mars has noticeably orange color even 105 million miles away. This color comes from iron-oxide, also known as rust, both on the surface and especially in the baby-powder-fine dust lifted into the atmosphere by the gentle Martian winds.

On Wednesday evening, you can use you hand measuring skills as Venus moves alongside Saturn in the western evening sky. The two will be separated by about half a degree. You wont be able to fit your pinky between them.