When I walked outside at dawn this morning, two eyes glared back. Mars and Saturn stand just 5° apart, close enough to catch the eye of even a casual skywatcher. Mars is currently 8½ closer to the Earth than Saturn, so it appears to move more quickly across the sky as it orbits the sun. While Saturn’s been creeping east, Mars has gained on the slacker planet; in a week they’ll be in a tight conjunction just 1° apart!
Both are located in the constellation Sagittarius the Archer better known as the “Teapot” for its shape, and both are helpful in finding two of the finest deep sky objects in the sky. One of the richest globular clusters, called M22 or the Great Sagittarius Globular Cluster, sits just 1.5° south-southwest of Saturn. Just 2.5° due west of Mars you’ll find the enchanting Lagoon Nebula (also called M8). Both are visible as fuzzy spots in binoculars. M22 is small and compact, while the Lagoon sports an attractive mix of stars and hazy nebulosity. Even a 6-inch telescope will partially resolve M22 into stars and show textures and an embedded star cluster in the Lagoon.
Back in the evening sky, the International Space Station (ISS) is again passing over many U.S. cities and other locations through mid-April. Watching a bright, moving “star” packed with astronauts slowly cross the sky is a fun activity to share with friends and family. The ISS first appears in the western sky heading east traveling at over 17,000 mph (27,350 kph) at an altitude of about 250 miles. We see it against a dark sky because the sun is still shining the at that tremendous height.
There are many ways to find pass times for your town. You can go to Heavens Above , find your location and then click the ISS link for a list of passes. Clicking the time link will show a map of the sky with the station’s path. Or download the free ISS Spotter app for iPhone / ISS Detector for Android. Today at 2:41 p.m. CDT (19:41 UT), a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will deliver three new crew members to the space station.
Don’t forget that Venus is still out and will be for a long time. Look for it low in the western sky in late twilight.