Observers in the UK with a clear sky at dusk should try to locate Venus low in the western sky an hour after sunset. The 3-day-old slim crescent Moon acts as a convenient guide, located some 12½ degrees (or half the span of an outstretched hand at arm’s length) to the upper left of the brightest planet. Conspicuous star Aldebaran lies in the same low-power binocular field of view as the Moon too. Note that the size of the lunar crescent has been enlarged for clarity. AN graphic by Ade Ashford.Observers in Western Europe should make the most of fine weather to locate Venus low in the western sky an hour after sunset, particularly on Wednesday 18 April when the 3-day-old slim crescent Moon acts as a convenient guide, located some 12½ degrees (or half the span of an outstretched hand at arm’s length) to the upper left of the brightest planet.
Stargazers in the British Isles with a clear sky around 10pm this evening should note the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) forming a right-angled triangle with Venus and the Moon in the deepening twilight, but don’t leave it much later as the brightest planet sets around 10:43pm as seen from the heart of the UK (stated times are in BST).
Prominent first-magnitude star Aldebaran lies in the same low-power binocular field of view as the Moon too. In the small hours of 19 April, the waxing lunar crescent actually occults (passes in front of) Aldebaran as seen from central and northern Russia, north and eastern Scandinavia, the north of Greenland and northernmost Canada.
In the early evening of Tuesday, 23 February, the rising waning gibbous Moon — one day after full Moon — lies just 3½ degrees from magnitude -2.5 planet Jupiter low in the eastern sky. Jupiter is closest to Earth on Tuesday, 8 March, so now is the time to get acquainted with the solar system’s largest planet.
On Thursday, 22 March observers in the British Isles with clear skies can see the 5½-day-old setting crescent Moon pass in front of first-magnitude star Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus soon after 11:30pm GMT. Depending on where you live in the UK, you might just see the star reappear again shortly before the pair set.
The International Astronomical Union, marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission that carried humans into lunar orbit for the first time in 1968, has named to craters to honour the historic mission.
