Astro News

Friday, March 16
Orion shines high in the southwest after
dark this week, already tipping over so
that his three-star belt is nearly horizontal.

Saturday, March 17
The bright eclipsing variable star Algol
should be in one of its periodic dimmings,
magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1,
for a couple hours centered on 9:01 p.m. EDT.

Sunday, March 18
New Moon (exact at 10:43 p.m. EDT).

Monday, March 19
A minor partial eclipse of the Sun is visible
from Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Siberia
on the 19th local date; on the 18th from
northwestern Alaska. The eclipse just misses
most of Japan. Nowhere is it total. Local predictions.

Tuesday, March 20
The crescent Moon shines beautifully beneath
Venus this evening, as shown above.
The equinox occurs at 8:07 p.m. EDT, when
the Sun crosses the equator heading north for
the year. Spring begins in the Northern
Hemisphere; fall begins in the Southern Hemisphere.
In Universal Time (GMT) the time is 0:07 on March 21st.
This is the last time an equinox will occur on the
21st Universal Time until the year 2102!.

Wednesday, March 21
Tonight the waxing crescent Moon is above Venus.

Thursday, March 22
Mercury is at greatest elongation, 28° west of the Sun.
Telescope users in western North America can look
for the dark limb of the nearly-setting crescent
Moon occulting faint stars on the northern edge
of the Pleiades.

This Week's Planet Roundup

Mercury (about magnitude 0) remains very low in
bright dawn. Look for it above the east-southeast
horizon well to the lower left of Mars.

Venus (magnitude -3.9, in Aries) is the brilliant
white "Evening Star" dominating the west during
and after twilight.

Mars (magnitude +1.2, in Capricornus) is low in
the southeast during dawn.

Jupiter (magnitude -2.2, in southern Ophiuchus)
dominates the south before and during dawn. Antares
and the stars of Scorpius shine to its right and below.

Saturn (magnitude +0.1, in Leo) shines very high
toward the south during evening. Regulus, less
bright, is 11° to its lower left.

Uranus and Neptune are hidden low in the glow of sunrise.

Pluto (magnitude 14, in northwestern Sagittarius)
is not far from Jupiter in the south before dawn.

--
There are those who believe that life here, began out there, far across the
universe, with tribes of humans, who may have been the forefathers of the
Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that they may yet be
brothers of man, who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the
heavens.


The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Sidewalk Astronomy
www.sidewalkastronomy.info
The Church of Eternity
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/church/Eternity.html
Car Site
http://home.inreach.com/starlord/star.htm