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A monthly look at the night sky from your favorite Astronomy teacher at Pequea Valley High School
Episodes
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
Tuesday Mar 31, 2015
To see a video of this information, go to my YouTube Channel
If you’re good, you’ll be able to see all of the naked eye planets, a weak meteor shower, and depending on where you live, part of a total lunar eclipse…a great month for astronomy!
PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye
Planets you can see around Sunset –Venus (W), Mars (W), Jupiter (S), Mercury (W)
Planets you can see throughout the night – Jupiter (SàW)
Planets you can see in the Morning – Saturn (SE)
Mercury – Only worth looking for at the end of the month, when it makes its best appearance for the year. It will only be visible starting around the 18th, and is very low on the horizon and near the Pleiades. Mercury will increase its height into May and will only be visible up to about 9pm. Close to the Moon on the 19th.
VENUS – Look West after sunset and it will be the first “star” you see, shining brilliantly in the evening twilight. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you may be able to see the gibbous phase of Venus. Close to the Moon on the 21st.
Mars – Mars gets harder and harder to see throughout the month, but if you want to see it, look West after sunset and look for the visibly red “star”. It’ll be very close to the horizon. Close to the Moon on the 19th.
JUPITER – Jupiter is already high up in the S after sunset, so watch Jupiter move from the S to the West by 3am. If you know your constellations, look to the right of Leo in Cancer. Don’t forget the binoculars or telescope for the Galilean Moons and the cloud bands on its surface. Close to the Moon on the night of the 26th and 27th.
Saturn – Saturn rises in the SE around midnight at the beginning of this month, and rises earlier and higher as the month goes on eventually rising at 10pm by month’s end. Close to the Moon on the 8th in the morning.
EVENTS...
Full Moon – 4th (Visible all night)
TOTAL(ISH) LUNAR ECLIPSE – 4th – If you’re on the East Coast, you’re pretty much out of luck, but you’ll be able to catch a little bit of the partial part of the eclipse, if you have a clear view of the Western horizon in the morning. The penumbral part of the eclipse isn’t anything to worry about. It’s the partial eclipse that you’ll be thinking about. Look West, and at about 6:15am EDT the Moon will start entering the dark part of the Earth’s shadow. Sunrise (for me in PA) is only half an hour later, so that leaves much to be desired.
On the other hand, if you’re in California for this eclipse, you’ll see a Full Moon in the SW around 3:15am PDT enter Earth’s umbral shadow, and thus begins the partial eclipse. The shadow will continue to “eat away” at the Moon until it completely engulfs it at 5:54am PDT. Totality only lasts for about 10 minutes, depending on whose definitions of the umbra you use, so you’ll be able to all of totality, but sunrise comes quick at 6:36am PDT for Los Angeles, so you’ll contend with some dawn twilight. If you live in Hawaii, it’s a great view for the entire event.
For more information, including time charts, go to Sky & Telescope.
8th – Close Encounter – Moon, Saturn – Get out after 1am EDT and look East for a gibbous Moon with Saturn 4˚ down and to the left. By 5am, they’ll be in the South.
Last Quarter Moon – 11th (Visible from midnight into the morning)
New Moon – 18th (darkest skies)
19th – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars, Mercury – Get out around sunset (7:47pm) and bring binoculars to see the VERY thin crescent Moon in the West only 10˚ above the horizon. Mars will be only a few degrees to the right, with Mercury down and to the right. The dusk and the relative thinness of the Moon will make this difficult, but not impossible if you have a good view of the horizon and binoculars.
21st – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – Get out around sunset again and wait until you can see either the first “star” which is Venus, or the thin crescent Moon. The Moon will be easier to see than two days ago, due to it being thicker as well as higher in the sky. Venus will be just 7˚ to the right of the Moon, with the V of Taurus below.
22nd – LYRID METEOR SHOWER – Not the strongest shower, at only 10-20 meteors per hour, however there is no moon to interfere. Look North in general after 11pm and into the morning.
Some advice for watching:
Find a dark location and lie down in a reclining chair or swimming pool floaty
Look toward Lyra (In the NNE around 9pm, rises throughout the night until sunrise where it will be almost directly above.) That is where the radiant is - where the meteors will appear to be coming from
The strategy to observe this one is to start watching in the evening and continue until daylight.
Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear (weather.com has a good map here)
Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something.
If you’re feeling extra nerdy, do a scientific meteor count. More info at S&T and IMO
25th – 26th – Close Encounter – Moon, Jupiter – Get out after sunset and look S for a First Quarter Moon with Jupiter 9˚ up and to the left on the 25th and 7˚ to the right on the 26th.
First Quarter Moon – 25th (Visible until midnight)
CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month – or ask Mr. Webb) Look straight up and you'll see...
After Sunset (sunset is around 7:30-8:00pm) – Cancer, Leo, Lynx, Ursa Major’s legs - Extra Challenge! Find M44 in the middle of Cancer – an open cluster of stars also known as the Beehive Cluster. You may be able to see it as a small fuzzy patch with your naked eye if you have very dark skies. However with a pair of binoculars or a telescope on low power, it will look like a hive of bees in the distance, hence its nickname.
Between Sunset and Midnight – Leo, Leo Minor, Ursa Major’s legs
Midnight – Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices are closer to the Zenith (the point straight above you), but Ursa Major, Leo, and Bootes make a nice but bigger triangle around it.
Early Morning – Hercules, Lyra, Cygnus – These are the Summer constellations, and since they are starting to rise in the morning now, that means that summer is on its way.
GENERAL CONSTELLATION FINDING TIPS:
Winter constellations: Orion is still easy to spot as he is directly in the SW after sunset. You can use Orion to find many other winter constellations, for the last time until the fall.
Using Orion: Find Orion by looking for the three stars in a row that make up Orion’s belt in the Southwest. If you draw a line from the left star to the right star and keep going right about 20 degrees (about 2 fists at arm’s length) until you reach another very bright star, you will have reached the star Aldebaran in Taurus (the V). Follow that line a little more (about another fist) and you’ll find the Pleiades.
If you start at his belt again, but instead go the opposite way and draw a line from the right star in Orion’s belt to the left star, and keep going left about 20 degrees (2 fists again), you’ll come to the brightest star in the sky – Sirius – part of Canis Major.
Above these three constellations are Gemini and Auriga. The brightest stars in each of these constellations form a circle in the sky. Going clockwise - Aldebaron (Taurus) – Rigel (Orion – bottom right foot) – Sirius (Canis Major) – Procyon (Canis Minor) – Castor & Pollux (Gemini) – Capella (Auriga). It makes for great stargazing in the winter sky.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
To see a video of this information, go to my YouTube Channel
March brings us (hopefully) warmer weather, the spring equinox, and good views of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, depending on when you’re awake.
PLANETS...well, the ones visible with your naked eye
Planets you can see around Sunset –Venus (W), Mars (W), Jupiter (E)
Planets you can see throughout the night – Jupiter (SEàW)
Planets you can see in the Morning – Saturn (S)
Mercury – Not really worth looking for this month.
Venus – Venus is making its way up the sky each night. Just look West after sunset and it will be the first “star” you see. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you may be able to see the gibbous phase of Venus. Close to the Moon on the 22nd.
Mars – Look in the West after sunset and look for the visibly red “star” hanging out below Venus. It won’t last long, and sets closer and closer to sunset as the month goes by, and gets harder to see. Close to the Moon on the 21st, but very hard to find
Jupiter – Jupiter is already high up in the SE after sunset, so watch Jupiter move from the SE to the South to the West by 5am EDT. If you know your constellations, look to the right of Leo in Cancer. Don’t forget the binoculars or telescope for the Galilean Moons and the cloud bands on its surface. Close to the Moon on the night of the 6th.
Saturn – Saturn rises in the SE around 2am at the beginning of this month, and rises earlier and higher as the month goes on eventually rising at midnight EDT by month’s end. Close to the Moon on the 12th in the morning.
EVENTS...
Full Moon – 5th (Visible all night)
6th – Close Encounter – Moon, Jupiter – Get out after sunset and look SE for a Gibbous Moon with Jupiter 6˚ up and to the left.
12th – Close Encounter – Moon, Saturn – Get out after 1:30am EDT and look East for a gibbous Moon with Saturn 2˚ down and to the right. By 5:30am, they’ll be in the South.
Last Quarter Moon – 13th (Visible from midnight into the morning)
New Moon – 20th (darkest skies) – ALSO - Total Solar Eclipse, however the path of totality for this eclipse will be limited to the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans between Greenland and northern Russia (http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-current.html)
20th - Spring Equinox - Astronomically the first day of Spring, even though meteorologically Spring starts in the beginning of March. Here’s some more info.
21st – Close Encounter – Moon, Mars – Get out around sunset (7:15pm) and wait until you can see the VERY thin crescent Moon in the East. Only 2˚to the right and up from the Moon is Mars. The dusk and the relative thinness of the Moon will make this difficult, but not impossible if you have a good view of the horizon.
22nd – Close Encounter – Moon, Venus – Get out around sunset again and wait until you can see either the first “star” which is Venus, or the thin crescent Moon. The Moon will be easier to see than yesterday, due to it being thicker as well as higher in the sky. Venus will be just 3 degrees to the right of the Moon.
First Quarter Moon – 27th (Visible until midnight)
CONSTELLATIONS... (see sky map link at the bottom for a Star Map for this month – or ask Mr. Webb) Look straight up and you'll see...
After Sunset (sunset is around 5:30-6:30pm) – Auriga (Taurus is right nearby), Gemini
Between Sunset and Midnight – Cancer, Gemini, Lynx, and Leo later in the month - Extra Challenge! Find M44 in the Middle of Cancer – an open cluster of stars also known as the Beehive Cluster. You may be able to see it as a small fuzzy patch with your naked eye if you have very dark skies. However with a pair of binoculars or a telescope on low power, it will look like a hive of bees in the distance, hence its nickname.
Midnight – Leo, Leo Minor, Ursa Major’s legs
Early Morning – Corona Borealis, Hercules, Boötes (you can also find the Big Dipper’s handle, and starting from the inside of the handle, follow the arc that those four stars make past the last star in the handle about 30˚ or three fist-widths to the next very bright star you find which is Arcturus, the base of the constellation Boötes. Hence astronomers use the phrase “Follow the Arc to Arcturus”)
GENERAL CONSTELLATION FINDING TIPS:
Winter constellations: Orion is easy to spot as he is high in the south as the Sun sets. You can use Orion to find many other winter constellations.
Using Orion: Find Orion by looking for the three stars in a row that make up Orion’s belt in the South after 7pm. If you draw a line from the left star to the right star and keep going right about 20 degrees (about 2 fists at arm’s length) until you reach another very bright star, you will have reached the star Aldebaron in Taurus (the V). Follow that line a little more (about another fist) and you’ll find the Pleiades.
If you start at his belt again, but instead go the opposite way and draw a line from the right star in Orion’s belt to the left star, and keep going left about 20 degrees (2 fists again), you’ll come to the brightest star in the sky – Sirius – part of Canis Major.
Above these three constellations are Gemini and Auriga. The brightest stars in each of these constellations form a circle in the sky. Going clockwise - Aldebaron (Taurus) – Rigel (Orion – bottom right foot) – Sirius (Canis Major) – Procyon (Canis Minor) – Castor & Pollux (Gemini) – Capella (Auriga). It makes for great stargazing in the winter sky.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.