Tour March's Sky! | February 28th, 2012

As soon as the Sun sets, you’ll be drawn to a pair of unmistakably bright beacons that dominate the early-evening scene. Venus and Jupiter have been edging closer for many weeks, and their celestial dance culminates in mid-March.

Meanwhile, over in the east, Mars enters the evening sky as darkness falls. Above it are Regulus and the stars of Leo.

In between these planetary beacons are Orion and, to his left, Sirius. Did you know that Sirius was revered by ancient Egyptians, and that it's also called the Dog Star?

To find out why — and to get a guided tour of more stars and planets visible this month — download March's audio sky tour. It's a 6.5-megabyte MP3 file that's 7 minutes long.