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**Monarch Butterfly tracking
continues to improve.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/monarch-butterfly-mexico-migration-tracking-smartphone-9.7126224
**On Wednesday, Brian
Stone went to Highland Park in Salisbury to check for new arrivals, as he had
noticed on Tuesday that the water was beginning to thaw, and he found that the
ponds were 90% ice-free. There were a few Canada geese and just two green-winged teal
present, but the photos of the day were a pair of hooded mergansers snuggling up together in the smaller side pond. It won't be long before more pond-loving
birds show up, so it will be good to keep checking the ponds on a regular
basis.
Brian also found a female common goldeneye duck in the ponds, and three white-tailed deer alongside the road on the way.
**This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2026 March 28 – April
4
With Easter happening next weekend let us look for signs of it in the night
sky. Lambs have long been associated with spring and Easter, so we can start
with Aries the Ram low in the west. For many the symbol of Easter is Peter
Cottontail, the Easter Bunny. When darkness sets in we can see Lepus the Hare
below the feet of Orion. I see the constellation as three vertical pairs of
stars, with the brightest pair in the middle and the widest to the right. With
a reasonably dark sky you can see the bunny ears between the widest pair and
Orion’s brightest star, Rigel.
In Germanic mythology Ostara, the goddess of spring, found a wounded bird and
changed it into a hare so that it could survive. This animal was allowed to run
as fast as it could fly and it retained the ability to lay eggs, which it did
in spring to honour its rescuer. The Saxon name for the goddess was
Eostre. I think the best symbol is seen on the Moon when it is full or nearly
so. When it rises in spring, look for the dark bunny ears to the upper right.
With them identified, it isn’t difficult to picture Peter Cottontail clutching
a giant egg.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:06 and sunset will occur at 7:42, giving
12 hours, 36 minutes of daylight (7:12 and 7:47 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 6:53 and set at 7:51, giving 12 hours, 58 minutes of
daylight (6:58 and 7:56 in Saint John).
The Moon is below Regulus on Sunday evening, full on Wednesday and near
Spica Thursday. Venus sets around 9:30 pm this weekend, becoming more prominent
now as it climbs up the steep angle of the spring ecliptic. Jupiter is high in
the southwest at sunset, and this Saturday telescope users might see its
moon Europa disappear behind the planet at 9:54. Mercury is a challenging
binocular target, rising 50 minutes before sunrise this weekend but not gaining
much altitude before twilight gets too bright. Saturn and Mars are too close to
the Sun for observing. Beginning late in the week rural observers might see the
subtle glow of zodiacal light in the west 60 to 90 minutes after sunset.
Tune in to the Sunday
Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of
Astronomy by the Bay. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park
Interpretation Centre at 7 pm on April
Questions? Contact Curt
Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
