The nights ahead are moonless, making deep sky stargazing easy and full of wonder. So much has changed in the last month. The zodiacal constellation Leo is now up overhead a short time after sunset. The star Regulus is the constellation's brightest star. Looking to the east of Leo there is the spring zodiacal constellation Virgo with its main star Spica close to the horizon.

Up until a few years ago, these two constellations were known for the viewable presence of billions of galaxies. Even with an amateur telescope one could look almost anywhere in the constellation and find fuzzy faint stars that were in reality distant galaxies. Today with the James Webb telescope scooping up headlines with all its discoveries. Astronomers are pointing that telescope and discovering galaxies everywhere.

For us, the visual amateur astronomers Leo and Virgo remain a galaxy hunter's favorite.

The Big Dipper, a favorite constellation, is now so easy to spot high in the northeastern sky. You wait long enough and the constellation is north of almost overhead. That constellation possesses quite a number of distant galaxies.

Venus

The brightest planet in our night sky is Venus and it appears high in the western sky after sunset. We've watched it in the last few weeks and are amazed at its brilliance. Venus is 102 million miles away, slightly farther from us than the Sun.