Currently the planets are on the other side of the Sun and rise early in the morning and set just before daybreak. We will not have them in the evening sky again until late summer and early fall.

In the spring evenings when the stars start to come out look for the constellation Leo, the lion, center stage in the South. Leo is distinguished by his backward question mark head on the right with his body and tail off to the left.

Behind Leo is the constellation of Virgo, distinguished by the bright star Spica. A little higher in the sky above and to the left of Virgo is the constellation Bootes which resembles a kite in the sky with the bright star Arcturus. To the right of Leo are the constellations Cancer and Gemini. Cancer only has a few fairly dim stars, the Gemini twins have the two bright stars Castor and Pollux as the heads of the twins. Above Leo, high in the sky is the Big Dipper. Using the two stars in the end of the cup, go five spaces equal to the separation between those stars to find Polaris. Polaris is also known as the North Star but it isn’t precisely North, as the night goes by it rotates around true North varying about a half of a degree. Not precisely North but close enough if you are lost. The handle of the dipper arcs to the star Arcturus and the arc continues to Spica.

To have these stars and constellations pointed out to you, please come to one of the “Sidewalk Astronomy” events held monthly during the warmer months. Ponca City Astronomy sets up quite powerful telescopes in front of the Ponca City RecPlex on Friday evening about 7:00 PM to allow the public to come look through our telescopes. We then go to the Lake Ponca Campground on the following evening at the same time. Our schedule is determined by the phase of the Moon as the Moon can be easily located and the First Quarter is the best phase to look at as the shadows of the mountains and craters are best highlighted then. These events are open to everyone and are free of charge. Our next events are scheduled for May 6 at the RecPlex and May 7 for the Lake Ponca Campground. Please be aware of the weather as we can not operate under cloudy skies. For more information join our Facebook

For more information join our Facebook page “PoncaCityAstronomy” to arrange an event for your school, church, scout group or club, contact Richard Jones at astro74601@gmail.com or call 580-352-5292.