Calendar of Astronomical Events Spring 1999

Note: This calendar lists only bright obvious planets to look at in the evening from a lighted metropolitan area, and notifies you of events like eclipses, meteor showers, and comets worth a trip out of the city to look at. For more detail, including planets visible later in the night, see a good monthly calendar like that of Astronomy Magazine.

Venus is the intensely bright evening star in the west visible after sunset.

Mars approaches opposition in April 99 when it will be fairly bright and close. Mars looks like a bright red star in the constellation of Virgo, low in the southeast in the early evening hours.

Jupiter has moved the the early morning sky in late April

Saturn is passing Venus March 19, fading from the evening sky, and moving to the early morning sky in May

Here are the moon's phases:

	new moon	first quarter	full moon	last quarter
April	16	22	30	8
May	15	22	30	8
June	13	20	28	7
July	12	20	28	6

To avoid the moon in the evening sky, observe between a few days before last quarter to a few days after new moon.

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