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"An undevout astronomer is mad!" Edward Young, English poet (1693-1765)
MOON:
Full Moon:
March 14
New Moon:
March 29
CLUB INDOOR MEETING: Thursday, March 2.
STAR GAZE (March 31):
Sun: Sets at 6:50pm, astronomical twilight ends at 8:18pm
and begins at 4:50am the next morning. The Sun rises the next morning at 6:17am.
Between astronomical twilights, we get about 8.5 hours of darkness.
Moon: (illuminated
9%) The Moon sets at 9:50pm.
Venus: Venus reached greatest elongation from the
Sun on March 25, so it is very high in the morning sky and has a "quarter-moon"
shape when seen through a telescope. As you look at Venus realize that it passed
between the Earth and the Sun in mid-January, is now heading away from us in it's
orbit, and will next pass on the far side of the Sun. (When you see Veunus in
the evening sky, it is heading toward us and will next pass between the
Earth and the Sun.)
Jupiter & it's moons: Jupiter rises at 9:43pm and
is 32 degrees above the horizon when morning astronomical twilight begins. There
is a transit by Europa's shadow that begins at 11:26pm, and by Europa itself
at 12:58am. Jupiter will be about 30 degrees above the horizon when these events
begin.
(You
need only about a 6" reflector to see transits! Begin to look for a Jovian moon
just as it begins to cross in front of Jupiter's disk, or, if the transit is ending,
just about 30 minutes before it leaves Jupiter's disk. If you try to find the
Jovian moon while it is more towards the middle of Jupiter's disk the tiny, sharp,
white disk of the moon is much more difficult to detect. In contrast to this,
the shadow of the moon is visible all the way across Jupiter's disk. This is because
of the greater contrast between the dark shadow and the bright disk of Jupiter.)
Saturn: Saturn has already risen by sunset. It culminates
at 8:20pm and sets at 3:22am. The "star" located about 3 ring-diameters
away to the SSE is really the moon Titan.
Satellites: You can check for satellite passes by
going to "www.heavens-above.com"
and logging-on as registered user "Astro Asheville" with password "12345".
There are several observing site to choose from. Choosing the correct site is
important only for seeing the Iridium flares.
Asteroids: Vesta can be found 2 degrees east of Epsilon Geminorum (aka "Mebsuta") on the night of the star gaze, shining at magnitude 7.8. Vesta is the brightest, but not the largest, asteroid. Unless your sky is very dark and your eye sight especially good, you'll need binoculars to see it, but regular 7x50's will do the trick.
Comets: Pojmanski C/2006 A1 is in the morning sky just before sunrise. It will be in the constellation Lacerta, the lizard, about half-way between the star Deneb and the Andromeda galaxy. You'll probably need a telescope to see it because, although it became much brighter than expected, it has been fading quickly for several weeks.
DEEP SKY OBJECTS (DSO's)
(Not the biggest or brightest, but interesting):
NGC 2244
(open cluster) in Monoceras. Associated with the large but faint "Rosette
Nebula".
R Leporis (Hind's Crimson Star), a Mira-type variable. It brightens from magnitude 11.7 to 5.5, with a period of 427 days, and remains bright for only about a month. It's one of the reddest stars we can see, but you'll need a larger telescope to bring out the color (it is most red when it is most dim). Catch it early in the evening. (Location: 4hr 59.6m RA -14 deg 48.5' Dec, in Lepus)
NGC1990 (reflection nebula) with associated "Bok Globules". Supposedly an 8" or 10" scope at 250x will reveal the globules. Also, NGC1990 is surrounded by "Herbig-Haro", or "H-H", bi-polar jets! These appear as 14th mag fuzzy stars, so be real sweet to the folks with the big scopes this month. Catch it early in the evening. (See 2003 Feb S&T, p101) (Location: 5hr 36.2m RA -01 deg 12' Dec, around the middle star in Orion's belt)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Spring
Equinox is March 20. The Sun crosses the celestial equator into the northern celestial
hemisphere.
TERMS:
AFOV=apparent field of view / dec=declination
/ EP=eye piece / FOV=field of view / ISS=International Space Station / HST=Hubble
Space Telescope / ly=light year / mag=magnitude / ra=right ascension /
culminates=transits the meridian=when an object as at its highest point in the
sky / transit=passing in front of another object / ZHR=zenithal hourly rate (basically,
the most meteors 1 person could see in 1 hour under ideal conditions)
CLUB STARGAZE:
You can check the AstroAsheville
Yahoo e-group [or call Tim @ 251-0040 or John @ 251-1933 (before 5:00) or
667-9268 (after 5:00)] for a go/no-go decision and to verify location.
CLUB MEETING:
Indoor club meetings are usually the first Thursday of every
month, at 6 p.m. in the Sims
Group offices (230 Short Coxe Ave., Asheville, NC.)
Happy Starwatching! Dress Warmly! Blue Ridge Parkway Information
Line is 828-298-0398
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(Much of the above info is derived from Sky & Telescope magazine, Ottewell's
Astronomical Calendar, The Night Sky Observer's Guide, Burnam's Celestial Handbook,
Megastar 5.0, Planets202, Cartes du Ciel, the ol' Miller Planesphere, and a little
(very little) common sense.)