• Before going to bed this Friday night (March 29), step outside and look in the eastern sky. You just might see the waning gibbous moon and Saturn, the sixth planet outward from the sun, above the horizon. The celestial pair will be up by about 10 to 11 p.m. local time at mid-northern latitudes (U.S. and Europe), and an hour or two earlier at southerly lati

tudes in the Southern Hemisphere.
• If you don't want to stay up late, then wake up before dawn to see the moon and Saturn. They will climb highest up for the night around 3 a.m. local daylight saving time (2 a.m. local standard time). Shortly before dawn, the moon and Saturn are found in the western part of the sky.
• Our feature sky chart shows the moon and Saturn as they appear from mid-northern latitudes in North America. If you live in the world's Eastern Hemisphere - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand - you'll see the moon considerably closer to Saturn than we do in North America. But no matter where you live worldwide, look first for the moon and then look for nearby Saturn.
• Saturn presently shines in front of the constellation Libra the Scales, not far from Libra's alpha star, Zubenelgenubi. Because of the moonlight glare, you may need binoculars to see Zubenelgenubi tonight. On a dark, moonless night, however, the star Zubenelgenubi is fairly easy to see.
• Saturn is now traveling in retrograde (westward) in front of Libra, going away from Zubenelgenubi and toward the star Spica of Virgo. Saturn will cross over into the constellation Virgo around mid-May and will be in conjunction will the faint yet visible Virgo star Kappa Virginis at the end of Saturn's retrograde on July 9, 2013.
• Use the moon to find the planet Saturn tonight. Then watch Saturn slowly retrograde westward in front of the backdrop stars, to cap its retrograde by rendezvousing with the Virgo star Kappa Virginis.
•
•