Sun rises at 5:49am.
Sun sets at 6:31pm.
Moon phase: (just barely past) full moon.
Moon rises at 8:00pm.
Moon sets at 7:30am.
Moon, Mars & Saturn
Look for Mars and Saturn near the Moon late tonight and Sunday night. On Saturday night, Mars is to the lower left of the Moon rising about an hour after the moon. Check the red-orange colour of Mars compared to most other ‘stars.’ The golden planet Saturn is to the lower left of Mars, with the orange star Antares off to the right, making a triangle of bright stars near the moon. On Saturday night, the moon will appear quite close to full and it will be located on the corner of constellation Libra. By Sunday night, the moon, now clearly in its waning gibbous phase, has shifted closer to the planets, so enjoy a convergence of the Moon, Mars and Saturn on Sunday night while you’re getting “wet down” at the Bacchanal.
Orion, Taurus & Pleiades
The western sky from 7:00 until 8:00pm offers a good view of Mercury and placed just above Mercury is the beautiful cluster of tiny stars, the Pleiades, or “seven sisters.” Just above that and to the left is a V-shaped group of stars that represents the horns of Taurus, the Bull. “Toro! Toro!”
Draw a straight line from the Pleiades to the “V” of Taurus and continue that line to Orion’s belt of three stars in a line. Orion seems to be everybody’s favourite constellation, as those three stars in a row are so easy to pick out. The hunter and the bull set quite early these spring evenings. The whole group is below the western horizon by 9:30pm.
Sagittarius
In the south-eastern sky, look for Sagittarius to rise around midnight. Sagittarius is meant to be a Centaur, half-horse-half-man, muscular and virile, aiming a notched bow and arrow. Modern star-gazers don’t really see that, though, the group of stars looks for all the world like a little teapot, short and stout. About as far from a centaur as you can get?
Crow & Cup
Look high into the south-western sky in the hours after nightfall to find two constellations that represent a crow and cup. Corvus, the crow, is a pattern of four stars that looks a bit like the shape of a square-rigged sail. The cup, known as Crater, stands to its upper right, a half circle of stars, like a backwards ‘C.’ The two constellations sit high above the Southern Cross. The crow and the cup are up all night to accompany the revellers on Jouvert morning!
If you are out later on in the week, each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later.
