The moon and Jupiter steal the show after sunset tonight

On Wednesday evening (April 22), assuming your skies are reasonably clear, you can finish your day by stepping outside and enjoying a view of a rendezvous of two of the brightest objects in the night sky: the moon and the planet Jupiter. About 45 minutes after the sun sets, the eye-catching celestial duo will be visible in the western sky, roughly two-thirds up from the horizon to the point directly overhead (called the zenith). The moon, which will be one day from reaching first quarter phase — 38% illuminated by the sun — will be situated above and to the right of Jupiter, about 3 degrees away. To gauge how wide 3 degrees is, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures about 10 degrees, so Jupiter and the moon will appear roughly "one-third of a fist" apart. Even without the moon, Jupiter alone readily attracts attention; currently, after Venus sets, it's the brightest "star" for the time that it's above the horizon (it currently sets at around 1:35 a.m. local daylight time), first coming into view high in the west during the early stages of twilight. Jupiter, at about magnitude -2.1, outshines everything in the night sky except Venus and the moon. As twilight fades, it is soon joined by the bright winter stars in this part of the sky — stars which are beginning to seem out of season as spring evenings warm up. Teaming up with the Gemini Twins Approximate location of the moon, Jupiter, Pollux and Castor on April 22. …