We’ve had a nice string of clear nights recently… and if forecasts hold, we’ve got at least another one in store for tonight. Temperatures have risen considerably as well. Spring skies are full of a wide range of amazing celestial objects, so what are you waiting for? Dust off your old telescope and put it to use. Don’t have a telescope? How about a pair of binoculars? You’d probably be surprised how much you can see with a typical pair… galaxies, nebulae and star clusters are all within reach. Check it out.
Ok…Starting things off
I saw the red planet, Mars this morning when I poked my head outside to check the weather. Mars is now high in the southern sky just before sun up. It is growing bigger and brighter by the day. In fact, Mars is now twice as big as it was just a couple of months ago. Details on the planets surface are just now starting to come into view. And… what views we’re expecting. Mars will more than triple in size again by the middle of the summer… as  it makes its closest pass in over 70,000 years! Thankfully, we now have telescopes at our disposal to take advantage of the amazing views this will provide.
The moon reached first quarter this past Wednesday evening as it passed close by the ringed planet, Saturn. Last night, it posed right next to Jupiter. In the meantime, we'll be under a waxing gibbous moon with 68% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated when it rises over Park City at about 1:10 pm. The moon is the easiest celestial body to observe and provides an incredible amount of detail to viewers.
And speaking of moons… Astronomers announced the discovery of 6 more moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. The discovery brings the total now to 58 moons orbiting the giant planet. Needless to say, Jupiter is tops in this category. 
Also in the news… Astronomers announced the completion of the largest, high-resolution survey of the heavens. The 4 year 2 Micron All Sky Survey  known as 2MASS contains over 500 million celestial objects. You’ll definitely want to spend some time browsing these images.
Finally, I’d like to let you know that the all new Clark Planetarium is now open down in Salt Lake.
For more information on the latest discoveries… or to find out what’s in the sky on any given night be sure to checkout the Utah Skies website at www.UtahSkies.org. While you’re there, be sure to sign up to receive the free, fully illustrated Utah Skies Report… Your ticket to the stars.