Venus passes 10° north of Aldebaran at 4 P.M. EDT today. Step outside just after sunset to spot the planet shining at magnitude –4.7 near the brightest luminary in Taurus the Bull. Although Venus appears as a crescent — just 36 percent illuminated — it is also growing in apparent size and is now 32" across. Keep checking the post-sunset sky each night this month to see the trend continue, as Venus slims down even further to 25 percent illumination but grows to 39" across by the end of April.Once full darkness begins to set in, pull out binoculars or a small scope and swing 6.5° due south of Venus to spot 4 Vesta, the main belt’s third-largest object. Tonight, it floats just 2.5° northwest of NGC 1647, a scattered open star cluster about 150 million years old.Today also marks the 50th anniversary of the successful splashdown of Apollo 13 in the South Pacific Ocean.Venus continues its trek through Taurus tonight. Hop to the next constellation over, Perseus, which lies to the northwest, and search out M34 (NGC 1039). This bright open cluster of stars is about 5° west of Algol (Beta [β] Persei). To find it, draw a line between Venus and Algol, then continue along that line about a quarter of its length farther. Under dark conditions, you may be able to spot M34 unaided.With no Moon in the sky, pull out your telescope to find the fainter M76 (NGC 650/1), also known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula. This magnitude 10 planetary nebula floats 12° northwest of M34, about halfway on a line drawn between Algol and Caph (Beta Cassiopeiae).The waning Moon passes 4° south of Neptune at 3 A.M. EDT. The pair rises about an hour before sunrise, so you’ll only have a limited time to catch them — still standing less than 5° apart — low on the horizon in the east before the sky grows too bright. Through a telescope, Neptune’s disk appears 2" across.Today also kicks off International Dark Sky Week , which runs April 19–26. This year, the International Dark-Sky Association is encouraging homebound families to look up together and reconnect with the night sky through a full schedule of presentations and more. You can find the schedule at https://idsw.darksky.org