Thursday, April 6

Tonight we see a slim crescent moon emerge from the twilight about 2 degrees south of Saturn. Below and to the right, Mars and Jupiter still lie very near each other -- Mars paling next to bright Jupiter. And set 14 degrees above the whole scene, the tiny star cluster, the Pleiades, seems to provide a stellar accent piece.

Skywatchers wishing to photograph the moon and planets should load their cameras with ISO 100 or 200 film and use at least a 100-millimeter lens. Mount your camera on a tripod or steady surface, and use a cable release to activate the shutter. At f-4, your exposures should be bracketed around a half-second to a second. If you use a 100-millimeter lens and ISO 64 slide film, bracket around a half-second.