What's Up for March 29-April 4

There is no better time than now for astronomers of all ages to get outside and get to know and enjoy the night sky a little more. That's why WRAL will provide a weekly guide for both early risers and night owls.

It is the closest solar system object to the Earth, but it's still far enough away that light takes about 1.2 seconds to get here.

If you listen to audio of Apollo missions, astronauts and controllers always give a little pause at the end of their communications to compensate. This pause has to be closer to 15-20 minutes for Mars missions.

The Moon turned new last week and reaches first quarter on Wednesday, April 1. It is high in the sky at sunset and remains above the horizon until well after midnight each evening.

This is the best time to observe the Moon. Even with the naked eye, you can make out smooth dark features, mare or "seas." Large craters are also visible, especially along the terminator, the line between dark and light.

Look after sunset for a bright star. Aldebaran will appear about 4 degrees to the lower left of the waxing crescent Moon. Partly cloudy skies are expected.

Saturn and Mars will appear less than a degree apart in the pre-dawn morning sky. Watch morning to morning for Mars to continue its eastward movement while more distant Jupiter and Saturn appear unmoving against the background of stars.

If you are up shortly after 5 a.m., look high in the northern sky for a line of satellites separated by about a minute. These are 6-8 of the 362 Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX so far.

Partly cloudy skies are expected.

Increasing clouds and a chance of rain will make sky watching challenging.

After sunset, the bright star Pollux will appear about 7 degrees to the upper right of the now half-full waxing Moon. Look for Pollux's twin Castor to the right -- together they are the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini. The ISS will pass low on the northern horizon beginning at 8:27 p.m., moving toward the northeast setting about 2.5 minutes later.

Decreasing clouds throughout the day will make spotting the Moon and twins possible.

You can probably find the big dipper in the northeastern evening sky. The early spring is a good time to look for its parent constellation. It is an example of an asterism, an identifiable pattern of stars in the sky that are part of larger, more official constellations.

The big dipper is part of the Ursa Major (great bear) constellation, with the dipper's handle forming the bear's tail.

Mostly clear skies are expected.

Venus will appear very near the Pleiades star cluster. This highly visible star cluster appears in the star stories of many cultures. The Greeks told of seven sisters, companions of Artemis, goddess of the Moon. The Cherokee tell of seven boys who would not do their chores.

The ISS will rise very brightly from the northwest at 9:15 p.m., reaching 43 degrees above the horizon as it disappears in the Earth's shadow three minutes later.

Mostly clear skies are expected.

On Saturday evening, the bright star Regulus will appear about 5 degrees to the right of the waxing gibbous Moon.

The ISS rises from the northwest at 8:28 p.m., entering Earth's shadow three minutes later. This should be bright enough to been seen through the expected return of partly cloudy skies.

Coming next week -- the super pink Moon.