New constellations take the stage

Now that the temperatures are warming, it will make staying outside longer for late evening sky viewing more comfortable. On the other hand the sun is setting later each day making it take longer to get dark. One hand giveth while the other hand taketh away.

With the winter constellation Orion leaving the evening sky stage left, the featured constellations for April have to be Leo, the Lion and Gemini, the Twins. Both hold prominent placings high in the south as evening twilight deepens into the dark of evening.

Both constellations have a unique form and both now feature planets within their borders making identification a little easier.

Let's start with the constellation farthest east, Leo, the Lion. As we have discussed before, the main feature of Leo is the backward question mark which represents his head and mane. The bright star marking the dot of the question mark is Regulus, Leo's brightest star. The hindquarters are represented by a three-star triangle off to the left.

To help find Leo first, find our old friend the Big Dipper; use the two stars where the handle joins the cup of the dipper and follow that line down to where it intersects with Leo.

Another prominent feature of Leo right now is the ringed-planet Saturn. It can be found just to the left of Regulus with Saturn being just a little brighter of the two. The pair only look close. Saturn, the sixth planet out from the sun, is about 940 million miles away while Regulus is about 78 light years distant.

Gemini doesn't have the flare of a question mark to help locate it, but the two bright stars, Castor and Pollux (the twins of mythology) do help in identification.

Gemini is a rectangle with the twin stars at the head. Find our friend Orion and follow a line from Rigel (the left knee) to Betelgeuse (the right shoulder) and it will lead you right to Gemini. Look for the fourth planet Mars in the middle of Gemini. On April 11, the moon will be about two degrees from Mars to help in identification.

If you have a telescope, look at Castor, the rightmost of the pair, it is a nice double star for small scopes. In fact, if you have a large enough telescope, you might be able to see all six stars of the Castor star system.

Located between Leo and Gemini is another of the zodiacal constellations, Cancer, the Crab. We discussed Cancer recently with the attempt to locate M44, the Beehive star cluster located right in the middle of the "Y" shaped constellation. Or, for those of my generation, put a circle around Cancer and you would have a pretty good representation of the peace symbol. Keep watching the Beehive as Mars will move to the big middle of it on May 22.

By the way, did you ever find M67 located in Cancer? For a reminder, look for the star at the end of the lower left (as you are looking at it) leg of the upside down letter "Y" of the constellation. M67 can be found in the same binocular field as that star.

SKY WATCH:

First quarter moon, April 12. Mars and moon conjunction on Friday, April 11, and Moon, Regulus, and Saturn conjunction on Monday, April 14 and 15. On Sunday, April 13, look for the moon to be near M44, the Beehive cluster.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.