Posted by: @jo

And it will take a bit to get used to the current positions of the stars and planets.

I can relate to that, Jo! I especially note it with the moon. I usually have some idea of its phase and location, but a long cloudy stretch can make me lose track of it.

Our long overcast abruptly cleared before sunset yesterday, so Rya's father and I stepped out after dusk to look for Uranus near Mars. But it was so high in the sky it was hard to keep binoculars steady.   Wind chills below 0F didn't help.

We tried again a few hours later, with Mars lower in the western sky, and success! Uranus was visible to the lower left of Mars at 10x50. I haven't seen it in years, and this was Rya's father's first observation of it. (The clouds returned by midnight and it's going to be cloudy for a while again, so we were fortunate to see it).

The two planets remain close the next few days, but the moon is getting bigger and brighter and might interfere (it will be fairly close to the pair tonight).

Exciting that you and Rya's father were able to view Uranus, stargazer, and particularly the fact that it was his first glimpse of that ice giant.

Likewise here! Actually, for the first time since January 1, we had clear skies. What a thrill to see the all-pervading clouds gradually break and move away ... then the night sky gloriously opened up! As I suspected, I needed to get my bearings again, but this came fairly quickly on my evening walk when I saw those 'familiar old friends' on high.  

The first hint of clearing was the full Wolf/Snow Moon quite high in the eastern sky shedding mysterious and lovely light from behind the clouds, then bursting into brilliance as the clouds began to part. The Moon weaved in and out of the semi-overcast sky for awhile, then finally, as I was walking back west, the clouds in that direction started moving away too. Hurrah! For my hope was to glimpse Mercury, even as the now-set sun still cast a bit of a glow on the horizon. Sure enough, there it was, fairly dim because of the twilight, but definitely visible.  

When I arrived home, I quickly checked Sky & Telescope for a few details, grabbed the binoculars, then sped out to the snowy field at the edge of our backyard, where the sky opens up. Mercury was still there, although sinking; the full Moon was shining very brightly in the east; Orion (what a beauty) was straight in front of me upwards in the SE, and by this time, even Sirius had appeared below. I first found the Orion Nebula through the binoculars—always a spectacular sight. Then I turned a bit to my right and trained my eyes on Mars, very high above.

Posted by: @stargazer

But it was so high in the sky it was hard to keep binoculars steady.  

Exactly, here too! My head was tilted waaaay back; I put the binoculars up to my eyes, adjusted the focus, and thought "how long can I last like this?!" I took wee breaks (a few seconds each time with my head back down and my arms resting), then went at it again. It was definitely tricky to hold the field glasses steady, yes. I could not find Mars in my sighting at first, then realized I had to move the binoculars even higher. There it was! I tried to somehow steady them in the way I held my arms, which helped. A bit.

And then I saw Uranus ...

to Mars' lower left—a dim, fuzzy ball of diffused light. Of course, it is not easy to adjust field glasses with winter gloves on, so I had gone outside bare-handed. I was surprised how long I lasted out there in the frigid temps, but there was not much wind, at all, which helped. This was my first sight of the ice planet, from what I recall, which was extra-special.  

I went back in the house for a few short breaks, then kept on popping out again, trudging through the deep-ish snow in the backyard to the field. I could have stayed out there, reveling in the glorious, vast sky, all night ... if not for the Arctic air. Yet somehow the excitement of viewing warmed me, so I was able to stay out much longer than I had anticipated. The Moon shadows were amazing too!

What a treat of an evening. This morning, then, when I awoke, I saw that full Moon sinking into the west—huge and beautiful. Clouds move in again today, so what a gift last evening was!  

It's always such a pleasure to read your posts, Jo, with their descriptions setting the scene so well. Glad you were able to see Uranus!

Our weather can't decide whether to be cloudy or clear, so I've been able to observe every other night or so. There have been a few impressive ISS passes, as well as Mercury sightings. For that planet, I've driven a few blocks to a nearby church parking lot that has better horizons (the same site used for watching Mercury and Comet NEOWISE last year). Clouds permitting, Mercury has been easy to spot in the reddish glow of the sunset around 6pm.

While this month has been warmer than average, we've still had some nights close to 0F, cool enough to get my attention and prevent the long relaxed sessions of warmer times.

It's not quite the same as observing the sky, but I watched (a few hours after it happened) the landing of the Perseverance on Mars. It's amazing the way it's possible to send a flying object to a planet so far away from us that the radio signals take 11 minutes, and actually hit the area they're aiming for!

I hardly knew that Norway now has a Space Centre, but we do, and they have been involved in this project.  

The Rimfax, the subsurface radar, has been developed and produced by this centre, and Norwegian Television talked to the guy who is more or less behind it (I forget his name). He was a little nervous that it might crash, but had good hopes that it would be fine. And the landing was a success, fortunately.

They also talked to another Norwegian, Håvard Fjær Grip, who will be one of those flying the mini-helicopter in a few days. It won't be like flying a drone, instead they will be sending commands to the helicopter which the helicopter then will process and finally follow. I got the impression that the main object of these flights is to see whether this can be done at all, an then at a later procject they can send up a larger helicopter that will have more important jobs to do.

And they showed pictures of the surface of Mars.

Malacandra, anyone?  

Very interesting about the Norwegian connection to "Persey," Varna!

The University of Minnesota's Bell Museum (where I watched the transit of Mercury in 2019) had a virtual star party last night to commemorate the landing (in normal times it would have been an in-person event). One of the staff braved the cold to aim the scopes up on the roof, giving us views of the first-quarter moon (very nice) and Mars (a tiny dot). Meanwhile other staff members answered online questions and talked to a guy in Florida who saw the Perseverance launch last summer, and discussed details about the landing and mission.

Interesting to read your comments, @varna and @stargazer on the Perseverance landing.

"But all night Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes."

I love that quote in your signature, stargazer.

This is how I felt tonight on my evening walk when I started to head east and, on the horizon's edge, saw a massive red full 'Snow Moon' rising up out of the earth, or so it appeared. It reminded me vividly of the redder of the Moons on Tatooine. As it rose, it became more orange (at that point looking like a large Harvest Moon), next yellow, then, 'shrinking' as it began traversing the sky higher up, a pure white. What a sight. And with streaks of cloud running across it at times, I really felt like I was in another world. Surreal. One of the most stunning Moons I have ever seen, I think. I wish I could have captured it on camera somehow.

Last night it was beautiful, as well, but washed out much of the stars in its brilliance; tonight, rising later, this gave me the chance to view particularly in Orion's direction (SE), with all that wide sky vista had to offer.

That sounds lovely, Jo.

I've been reminded lately of just how pretty the Moon is, in its varying aspects. I've always enjoyed the sight of a delicate crescent floating in twilight, or the cheery light of an autumn full moon, but this past week's winter full moon lit up everything so nicely, even against the background of the city lights.

The days are lengthening quickly now, and the convenience of early-evening stargazing will be gone for the summer, especially once much of North America "springs ahead" to daylight saving time in less than two weeks.

Posted by: @stargazer

I've been reminded lately of just how pretty the Moon is, in its varying aspects

Hear-hear! Your descriptions are so evocative, stargazer. And the Moon has so many wonderful moods, depending on how much and the type of cloud cover. I readily admit, I like the Moon so much better than the Sun.  

Posted by: @stargazer

The days are lengthening quickly now, and the convenience of early-evening stargazing will be gone for the summer

This always makes me sad. We have awhile yet to stargaze in the earlier evening, but, yes, that is quickly disappearing. I am very rare (where we live), preferring the longer nights to the longer days. I sorely miss the night sky in the summer, because it is light by the time I awaken (even though I am up quite early) and still quite light when I go to sleep, usually.

But, back to current night views ... last night on my walk the sky was cloud-covered, but in the last 20 minutes, they started breaking apart, and by the time I was near home, the sky in the south, east, and partly north has cleared. Even though I know what is up there at this time of year, I invariably involuntarily gasp aloud at the magnificent beauty, Orion in all its glory as one of the beautiful highlights. Tonight is to be clear and colder, so the heavens will be even more sparkling and glorious.  

Orion truly is spectacular, especially from out in the country.

The next few days offer a viewing opportunity for something rather rare for many stargazers - a chance to see a minor planet. 4 Vesta comes to opposition today (March 4) and shines all night at magnitude 5.8 (similar to Uranus when it was near Mars earlier this year, and just in the range of unaided visibility from a dark site and good eyesight.  I don't have either of those so I will be using binoculars. )

Opposition means it will be out all night, and highest around midnight. But it might be more convenient to seek it earlier in the evening, when it's easier on the back or neck.

It is about 1 degree north of Theta Leonis, one of the Lion's hindquarter stars (and part of a distinctive triangle that makes up that part of Leo). More info and a finder chart can be found here.

Thanks for that info re Vesta, @stargazer. I think I barely saw it a week or so ago in the east on a very clear, dark evening. But I'm still not sure.  

The past couple of mornings walks have been excellent: cold (but not at all bitterly so), crisp, completely sparkling clear. I had not walked in the morning's dark for a month or so, as we had so much snow and some ice, which made the roads quite slippery, so I am now having fun getting used to the placement of the stars and planets in the pre-dawn sky.

This morning, I saw Saturn, then Jupiter rise in the East. Always lovely. Arcturus is nice and red in the higher west (I followed the arc of the Big Dipper's handle), and then went lower to Spica. Btw, Spica is at least two stars, is that correct? And I am finally recognizing the constellation Scorpius. What a sight that is! A real beauty.

The evening sky is still relatively early, which is wonderful. (I am really going to miss the dark evening and morning skies come summer.) Stepping outside mid-evening is such a treat to see mighty Orion marching his way across the sky towards the west. Too soon I will miss his presence in the sky until I commence my walking in the early mornings again in the early Autumn. (I cannot walk in the hot months as it is just too  ... hot. ) 

Rya's father and I pulled out the binoculars earlier this month and caught Vesta a couple of times.

Jo, your early-morning walks sound so pleasant. Now if I were more of a morning person I'd probably try it too. As it happens, I woke up this morning around 6.15 and took a walk down to the corner to look for Jupiter and Saturn. Due to twilight, I saw brighter Jupiter first even though it is lower than Saturn. By the time I returned home some 20 minutes later, Saturn was lost in the light of the coming day.

Arcturus has always been one of my favorites. Spica is indeed a binary system, with the stars so close together they were detected by their spectra rather than telescopically.

Mars is passing north of Aldebaran this week in the evening sky, and they are similar in color and brightness. The past few nights have seen the crescent moon in their company, a very pretty sight. Tonight the moon will be above them, in the Horns of Taurus.

Today also marks the March equinox, with the sun appearing overhead as seen from the equator on its way north.

That's cool you saw Vesta, @stargazer! And those two giant planets.  

Yes, Saturn disappears so quickly into the dawn's light, but Jupiter remains visible for awhile. Lovely! I saw them again this morning on my walk.

Posted by: @stargazer

Spica is indeed a binary system, with the stars so close together they were detected by their spectra rather than telescopically.

Interesting!

As we have said many times, it is so exciting when unexpected night sky surprises occur. The other morning, I saw a nice, long (although not really bright) meteor streaking across the sky from west into the east. But this morning, I spied between the houses across the road a huge orange part-ball near the horizon. I had thought last night was to be cloudy (we had a few thunderstorms last evening), so was very pleased to see a clear night sky when I started out at 5:50 am. And that large ball in the sky? ... the setting Moon, which looked very similar to a Harvest Moon. I sprinted to the edge of our village to get the clearest of views. Wow! It was actually sinking into a low bank of clouds right near the horizon, and, truly, the Moon looked like it was being tucked into a dark blanket. Really beautiful!

After I finished my westward route, I started back eastward, always looking up and around at the sky. To my astonishment, I saw in the north (heading east) that now-known 'train of lights'—the starlink satellites. The length of that glittering straight 'rope' was over one fist-width, held out at arm's length. Quite the sight! They were only visible for a short time.

We had big thunderstorms late last night, so it was a pleasant surprise when I woke up around 6 am and saw the crescent moon out my window.

A walk down the street showed Saturn about 6 degrees above it with Jupiter looking on from about 15 degrees to the left. The moon was a pretty orange crescent with earthshine prominently visible. By 6.15 the sky was rose-colored low in the east with the coming day.

By tomorrow morning the moon will be below Jupiter. It's likely to be raining here, however.

Beautiful, @stargazer! And yes, on this morning's walk, the sight of that orange crescent Moon not far above the horizon and hanging below and to the right of Jupiter was stunning. It looked like the Moon was attached to an invisible string dangling from the planet.  

The Moon's distance from the horizon and then the distance between it and Jupiter were both about three fingertips held at arm's length.

And this morning, the low-lying Moon was just a bit more than a sliver—'God's fingernail', as a friend calls this phase. The dawn was quite red, so the combination of the coloured sky with the Moon and Jupiter hanging there so beautifully before the sun rose was quite the sight.