Special to CosmicTribune.com, March 31, 2025

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

SATURDAY, MARCH 29

■ A partial eclipse of the Sun happens for northeastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, and most of Europe. For most the northeastern U.S. and the Canadian Maritimes, the eclipse will already be under way at sunrise.

SUNDAY, MARCH 30

■ Mars is passing 4° south of Pollux. This evening Mars is also passing just ½° south of Kappa Geminorum, magnitude 3.6, one of the outstretched hands of the Pollux stick figure. Kappa Gem is a delicate telescopic double star, with a much fainter companion, magnitude 8.2, glimmering 7 arcseconds to the celestial west-southwest. Kappa A is an orange giant, and Kappa B is a rather Sunlike main-sequence star of spectral type G4. Use high power for it: the same eyepiece you just used for Mars.

MONDAY, MARCH 31

■ The two biggest open clusters in the starry sky are the Hyades behind Aldebaran, now descending in the west, and the Coma Berenices Star Cluster, wheeling up the spring sky in the east. The Coma Star Cluster appears about the size of a ping-pong ball held at arm’s length. But it’s very sparse and dim.

Do you know where to find it? Here’s the trick: Look 40% of the way from Denebola, the tail star of Leo, to Alkaid, the end of the Big Dipper’s handle and the tail of Ursa Major. Tail of the Lion to tail of the Bear.

In a really dark sky the Coma Star Cluster is a definite dim glow, with its brightest specks (5th and 6th magnitude) forming an upside-down Y. Through poorer skies, it just about fills a binocular’s view with somewhat more stars than usual. The swarm is 280 light-years away, about twice as far as the Hyades.

TUESDAY, APRIL 1

■ Every springtime we get lovely pairings of the Pleiades and the crescent Moon in the west in late twilight. This month’s happens tonight. For North Americans the Pleiades will be just 2° or 3° under the Moon. That’s a finger-width or two at arm’s length. Think photo opportunity.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2

■ Now the evening Moon pairs with Jupiter. They’re about 5° apart for North America. Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades shine below them.

THURSDAY, APRIL 3

■ Tonight the Moon forms a roughly equilateral triangle with Beta and Zeta Tauri below it: the horn tips of Taurus.

FRIDAY, APRIL 4

■ The first-quarter Moon this evening shines under Castor, Pollux, and Mars. The view below is for late twilight as the stars come out (for North America). As the night progresses and the sky turns westward, the arrangement will rotate clockwise as you turn to keep facing it — quickly at first, then more slowly.

The first-quarter Moon shines with Mars, Pollux, and Castor.

SATURDAY, APRIL 5

■ Now it’s the turn of Mars to pair with the Moon, as shown above. They’re 3° or 4° apart for the Americas.

SUNDAY, APRIL 6

■ The Big Dipper is high in the northeast these evenings, tipping over to the left dumping its water. Its handle and the two stars of its bowl closest to the handle form a broad, rough arc. To the right of it, somewhat near the focus of that arc, shines a lone 3rd-magnitude star. That’s Cor Caroli, the brightest star of Canes Venatici. It’s beautiful telescopic double, magnitudes 2.9 and 5.6, separation 19 arcseconds. They’re spectral types B and G, respectively.

  March 29-April 6: The Pleiades, the Moon and Jupiter and the 1st and 2nd, The Sky