MARCH  2007

MARCH STAR MAP | STARWATCH INDEX | MOON PHASE CALENDAR

Print Large Sky Charts For 9 p.m. EST:   NORTH | EAST | SOUTH | WEST | ZENITH

 

Solar X-rays:   Geomagnetic Field:

Current Moon Phase

550    MARCH 4, 2007:   Saving Daylight Comes Early

It is coming to your clocks sooner than you may expect—Daylight Saving Time! In fact, clocks jump ahead next Sunday morning at 2 a.m. as a measure of saving the nation a little more in energy costs by manipulating our time so that it will be in better sync with our waking hours. Under normal Standard Time the sun would rise at 6:20 a.m. and set at 6:18 p.m. With Daylight Saving Time, we will spring ahead one hour so that sunrise will occur at 7:20 a.m. and sunset will happen at 7:18 p.m. next Sunday. In effect, we will move our official time zone to the east by 15 degrees or one hour, adopting Atlantic Standard Time as our official time zone, but calling it Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). On the following Monday, my alarm will still ring about 5:50 a.m. but now it will be about 90 minutes before sunrise. By the time I’m on the road, headed towards William Allen High School and my first period astronomy class, the sun will just be rising and there will be plenty of light to see what is happening on the roadways. The reward will come in the evening when the sun sets an hour later, around 7:30 p.m., for the first week of EDT. Keeping in mind that it takes about 90 minutes to achieve full darkness, by 8:00 p.m. the natural sky glow will still be sufficient to navigate easily without artificial illumination. There is also an advantage for kids wanting that last snow day before the end of the winter season. By March, accumulating snowfalls happen normally after sundown because sun angles during the daylight hours are direct enough to induce rapid melting on streets and sidewalks even through the clouds. Since sunrises have been pushed back one hour with respect to the school day, we might just sneak in that extra late start or day off. Superintendents, are you taking notes?

The total lunar eclipse of March 3 was seen under hazy and partly cloudy skies. Although the event at the Quakertown Airport was cancelled, about 50 people showed up. Thanks go out to Steven Hernandez, John J. Kiefer, Sarabeth Brockley, and Jesse Leayman of the ASD Planetarium StarWatch Team. Digital eclipse Photography by Gary A. Becker...

551    MARCH 11, 2007:   Young Moons

In 1999 I had the rare opportunity of viewing a nearly total sunrise solar eclipse from coastal Maine. I was scheduled to lead a group of observers to the Black Sea to see this same event as a total eclipse, but the ongoing Balkans War caused most of my participants to bail. I really couldn’t blame them. There were definite security issues. I then hooked up with friends, Ben Walter and Sonja Sundaram, owners of Oceanside Meadows Inn on Maine’s Schoodic Peninsula and gave a historical program on solar eclipses visible from Schoodic, as well as tips for safely viewing the upcoming August 11 event. In exchange, my wife and I received several wonderful nights of lodging in their magnificent, oceanfront B&B. In determining the best site for local residents to view the August 11 eclipse, I chose Blueberry Hill in Acadia National Park, and went out at dawn on the day before the event to verify that the site was a good one. On Blueberry Hill about 5 a.m., I saw the thinnest crescent moon of my life, only 26 hours before its new phase. By no means an astronomical record, I was still ecstatic. More recently on February 18, I photographed the moon 30 hours after its new phase. Now on Monday, March 19, we have the chance to see and photograph a moon with an even thinner crescent, only 21 hours after its new phase. The astronomical conditions will be nearly perfect, and March often has exceptionally clear days. When the sun sets on March 19, the moon will be 11.3 degrees from the sun and 9.3 degrees above the western horizon. The Earth’s rotation will carry the moon towards its setting position 63 minutes after sundown, allowing the sky to become sufficiently dark to see the thin crescent. Just make sure your western horizon is as perfect as it can be. Also, bring along your binoculars. Clear skies!

552a  MARCH 18, 2007:   Celestial Potpourri

This week calls to our attention a variety of celestial observations. Spring also begins on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we have the opportunity of seeing a very young crescent moon only 21 hours past its new phase on the East Coast. You will need to find a location with a nearly flawless western horizon and be at your observing site no later than 20 minutes after sundown. First spot the razor thin crescent moon using binoculars. View directly over the location of sunset or the brightest area along the western horizon. As the sky becomes darker, earthshine, the light from the nearly full Earth reflected back from the moon, should become easily visible. On Tuesday night the moon is found nearly nine degrees below Venus in the west after sundown. By Wednesday, Luna is positioned six degrees above Venus and headed towards the Pleiades or Seven Sisters for Thursday evening. Use binoculars to spot the Seven Sisters only four degrees above the moon. By Friday, the moon forms a right angle between the Pleiades and the bright star, Aldebaran, the reddish eye of Taurus the Bull. On Saturday, a thick waxing crescent moon is just over two of its diameters from Elnath, the tip of the right horn of the bull. Winter fades at 8:09 p.m. EDT, Tuesday. The sun, on its northward journey along its path called the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator at this time. This means that Sol is seen directly overhead on the terrestrial equator. From this moment forward through the summer solstice and continuing until the autumnal equinox, Sunday, September 23 at 5:54 a.m. EDT, the sun remains north of the equator. Its radiation will be focused more directly on the northern hemisphere, giving us more energy and keeping us all a bit warmer. Watch as the amount of daylight rapidly increases during the next three weeks.

552b  MARCH 20, 2007:   Celestial Potpourri

This week calls to our attention a variety of celestial observations. Spring also begins this evening. Clouds on Monday kiboshed the opportunity of viewing a young crescent moon only 21 hours past its new phase. We’ll get another chance to see a young moon with a razor thin crescent on Wednesday, April 18. Luna will only be 26 hours old and easily visible for anyone with a good WNW horizon. On May 17, a 29 hour moon will only be 2-1/2 degrees from the planet Mercury about 45 minutes after sunset. In all cases, as the sky becomes darker, earthshine, the light from the nearly full Earth reflected back to us from the moon, should become easily visible. This evening, the moon will be found nearly nine degrees below Venus in the west after sundown. By Wednesday, Luna is positioned six degrees above Venus and headed towards the Pleiades or Seven Sisters for Thursday evening. Use binoculars to spot the Seven Sisters only four degrees above the moon. By Friday, the moon forms a right angle between the Pleiades and the bright star, Aldebaran, the reddish eye of Taurus the Bull. On Saturday, a thick waxing crescent moon is just over two of its diameters from Elnath, the tip of the right horn of the bull. Winter fades tonight at 8:09 p.m. The sun, on its northward journey along its path called the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator at this time. This means that Sol is seen directly overhead on the terrestrial equator. From this moment forward through the summer solstice and continuing until the autumnal equinox, Sunday, September 23 at 5:54 a.m., the sun remains north of the equator. Its radiation will be focused more directly on the northern hemisphere, giving us more energy and keeping us all a bit warmer. Watch as the amount of daylight rapidly increases during the next three weeks.

This 45 hour old moon shows a wealth of earthshine, light reflected from a nearly full Earth, back to the moon, and then back to us. Sky conditions were very clear on March 20 when this digital image was taken just a few minutes before (top) and after (bottom) the beginning of spring. Gary A. Becker digital photos...

553    MARCH 25, 2007:   Distance Makes a Difference

If you gaze just below the three belt stars of Orion the Hunter, in the southwest as twilight fades, you’ll find his sword. To the unaided eye, it appears to be three faint closely spaced stars. Through binoculars, the middle luminary, the Orion Nebula, will appear fuzzy to most observers. It is a cluster of stars in its early formative stages, 1500 light years distant. Follow the three bright belt stars of Orion up past the “V” which forms the head of Taurus the bull to the fuzzy patch of light that resolves itself into the Pleiades, a new cluster with as many as 500 stars, 425 light years distant. It easily fits within a binocular field of view, but it looks much bigger than the Great Nebula in Orion. The “V” of the bull, minus the bright star Aldebaran, is also a star cluster with about 200 members called the Hyades. Its 150 light year distance makes the Hyades appear huge in sky, about six degrees in diameter. It fits tightly within the average binocular field. The relative sizes of these clusters give some general indication of their distances from the sun. These nearby objects are dwarfed in comparison to the 500 million year old Ursa Major Moving Cluster which literally surrounds us in the early spring sky. Our sun is located about 75 light years from its center, which is approaching us at about six miles per second. Its members form the bulk of the stars of the Big Dipper, now rising in the NE. Only the end star of the cup (Dubhe) and the last star in the handle (Alkaid) are not incorporated. Other members of the Ursa Major Moving Cluster are Alphecca (also called Gemma), the brightest star of Corona Borealis the Northern Crown, and Menkalinan, of Auriga the Charioteer. Sirius, the brightest star of the night, now low in the southwest after dusk, may also be a member, although one study suggests this star is too young to be included.