What's Up in the Night Sky

March 2024 - Vol. 28, No. 3

This Month's Night Sky - NOTE: The next paragraph describes the sky as it appears at 10 pm EST (11 pm EDT) near mid- month. The sky also looks this way at 11 pm EST (midnight EDT) during the beginning of the month and at 9 pm EST (10 pm EDT) by month's end.

The constellations Taurus, with its Pleiades (a tiny "dipper-like" asterism), Orion and the Winter Triangle are now sinking in the West. Castor and Pollux (the Gemini "twins") are shining in the NW while Capella (Auriga) glows above them. Regulus (Leo) shines high in the South as the wandering constellation Hydra appears to create a void below since it has no bright stars. The "Big Dipper" asterism (Ursa Major) high in the NE has appeared to "rotate" so its "handle" is now nearly horizontal. Spica (Virgo) and Arcturus (Bootes) are now rising in the East. Spring is coming!

MERCURY returns to the night sky in the second week of March, favoring the northern hemisphere. VENUS appears low in the morning sky. MARS continues to rise, still separating from the Sun, it shines at 1.2 mag. JUPITER in the evening sky sets well before midnight. SATURN returns to the early morning sky the second half of the month. URANUS sets around midnight. NEPTUNE reaches conjunction on the 17th.

Review how to determine Angular Measurement.

Calendar of Events

NOTE: For those observers not in the ET zone, convert the calendar times to your zone's time by subtracting one hour for CT, two for MT and three for PT. Don't forget to adjust for Daylight Savings Time when necessary by subtracting one hour from your planisphere's time. Dawn and dusk times must also be corrected. See your local newspaper, TV news, or cable TV's Weather Channel for sunrise and sunset times or check with the U.S. Naval observatory. Unfortunately some of these events may occur during daylight hours in your area.

DATE	EVENT
03	Alpha Scorpii, Antares, 0.3 deg. S. of Moon, occultation from parts of the SE North America, C. America, Caribbean, N and E South America, Ascension Is., western Africa. Juno at opposition.
08	Mars 4 deg. N. of Moon. Venus 3 deg. N. of Moon.
10	Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins for affected areas. Moon at perigee, expect large tides.
14	Jupiter 4 deg. S. of Moon. Uranus 3 deg. S. of Moon.
15	Moon .4 deg. S. of the Pleiades (M-45).
17	Mercury at perihelion. Neptune in conjunction with the Sun.
19	Venus at aphelion. Alpha Geminorum, Pollux, 1.5 deg. N. of Moon.
20	Equinox, length of day and night is equal.
22	Venus 0.3 deg. N. of Saturn.
23	Moon at apogee.
24	Mercury at greatest elongation E. (19 deg.)
25	This month's full Moon is often called the "Worm Moon" due the fact that robins return to North America. It may also be called, "Sap Moon" due to the fact that it is the time of year that maple trees are tapped for the sap to produce maple syrup. (Fun fact, side note, there are 133 species of maple trees in North America!) Penumbral lunar eclipse that occurs when the moon is over the Americas. Penumbral eclipses are notoriously hard to observe, but it may be worth a try if it is clear.
26	Alpha Virginis, Spica 1.4 deg. S. of Moon.
27	Look West from a dark location, at about an hour after sunset, to view zodiacal light. ("Zodiacal light" is a vertical band of white light believed to be sunlight reflected from meteoroids found in the plane of the ecliptic, the apparent "path" of the Sun, Moon and Planets as they travel across our sky.) It will appear to be a very large, but very dim, pyramid of of white light, "leaning" to the left. This effect may be visible for the next two weeks on dark nights. Mercury at greatest heliocentric lat. N.
30	Alpha Scorpii, Antares, 0.3 deg. S. of Moon, occultation from Micronesia, NE Melanesia, most of Polynesia.

Lunar Almanac for March 2024

Phases of the Moon	Phase and Date(s)	Best viewed before local midnight
	New 10	Deep Space Objects
	1st. Qtr 16	Planets & Moon
	Full 25	Moon
	Last Qtr 03	Deep Space & Planets

Total Solar Eclipse - April 8, 2024

ready for the Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024?

North America is once again graced with a total solar eclipse, passing through some of the areas that an eclipse path crossed through the United States in August of 2017. The weather is iffy all along the eclipse, but when did that ever stop us crazy eclipse chasers? If you are near the centerline, do what it takes to get outside. Don't wait for pristine weather conditions. Even if the Sun is totally blocked with clouds, if you are on the centerline, you will be plunged into darkness when the Moon blocks out the disk of the Sun.

This eclipse is guaranteed to be an exciting one, because the Sun is nearing solar maximum, when the disk is covered with lots of sunspots and other solar events such as prominences and flares. The solar corona would be fantastic if the solar weather we've been tracking is any indicator.

At Astra's Stargate, we host an Eclipse Guide. Our Eclipse Home page has basic information on eclipses in general. Pages for Solar and Lunar eclipses give great detail on these events. The April 8, 2024 Eclipse and the April 2024 Eclipse Resources page give the eclipse details and give what can only be a sliver of the pages out there on this upcoming event. The April 2024 pages can help you find resources to assist with planning. If you don't have equipment, use the Eclipse Safety page to find instructions on making a safe, pinhole projection device.

The American Astronomical Society has an app that presents the Google Interactive Map for Solar Eclipses that Xavier Jubier maintains for iPhones and Androids. The app is called, Totality and can be downloaded for free.

On April 8, 2024, the path of a total solar eclipse (Saros 139) emerges from the Pacific Ocean and enters Mexico near Mazatlan. Greatest eclipse occurs at Nazas, Mexico where it lasts for 4m 28s. It crosses into the United States, first encountering the State of Texas near Piedras Negras. It passes through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, where it enters Lake Erie, Pennsylvania, and New York. It crosses Lake Ontario, returning to New York, Vermont, grazing New Hampshire, it goes back into Canada. The central path also passes through Maine in the U.S. and New Brunswick in Canada. The eclipse path will plunge into the Gulf of St. Lawrence returning to land at Newfoundland, plunge into the north Atlantic and stop below Iceland, unable to make it to Europe.

Do not wait for the day of the eclipse. Get out your equipment if you are an amateur astronomer. Dust off that solar filter and give it a whirl on the Sun in advance. Now would be a good time. The more familiar you are with your equipment and the place you are setting up, the easier it is to observe while totality is demanding all your attention.

--See You Under the Stars, uh, Sky!
Astra for Astra's Almanac