Hear: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz209marchskyguide
March Moon Phases:
Moon at Perigee March 2
First Quarter: March 7
Full Moon: March 14
Moon at Apogee March18
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Final Quarter March 22
New Moon: March 29
Moon at Perigee once more on March 30
Night Skies:
Mercury may be very low within the night twilight within the West. (binocs advisable however solely after sundown) and Mercury will return to morning skies in April and will likely be fairly good then.
Venus within the early night twilight may be very low within the West (and as a effective crescent in telescopes) … and can disappear from us by the top of the primary week of March, after which will re-appear within the East because the ‘Morning Star’ in April.
Jupiter is within the north west all night time and greatest seen round midnight.
Good new storms could be picked out in telescopes within the equatorial belt.
Mars can nonetheless be seen within the West
Uranus at magazine 5.8 continues to be seen
Saturn returns to night skies in late March
Highlights:
1 March: Saturn and Mercury close to to skinny crescent Moon (2° aside for Mercury) very low in night twilight, would require binoculars.
2 March: Crescent Moon close to crescent Venus very low in night twilight (5°)
6 March: Waxing Moon close to Jupiter in night twilight (6°)
9 March: Waxing Moon close to Mars in night sky (5°), Moon near Pollux
14 March: Occultation of vibrant star Beta Virginis round midnight
20 March: Earth at Equinox
21 March: Occultation of vibrant star Antares simply after midnight behind moon
Astrophotography Problem:
The T Coronae Borealis Nova.
The problem is to seize a Nova earlier than and after it blows!
This Nova is ‘overdue’ so all eyes are on it!
Ian’s Tip: use 1sec stacks
T Coronae Borealis final brightened in 1946, and astronomers initially predicted it could brighten once more by September 2024.
It’s a variable star in Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, a backward-C-shaped constellation east of Boötes.
T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and recognized to astronomers merely as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled within the Northern Crown constellation some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a dense white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a lifeless star with a mass corresponding to that of our Solar – and an historical pink large slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbour.
Ian’s Tangent: Sky literacy, or lack thereof, as exemplified by ‘drone sightings’ within the US and amplified by the Governor of Maryland.
We additionally talk about straightforward pathways to develop higher sky literacy.
