The Sky This Week: Mar 1 – Mar 6

The Sky This Week: Mar 1 – Mar 6

 

Tuesday, March 1
The Last Quarter Moon officially arrives at 7:11 p.m. EST, but you won’t be able to see it until several hours after that. Our nearest celestial neighbor will rise in the east around midnight and reach its highest point in the southern sky around sunrise. The Moon will be in front of the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent-bearer. In the early morning hours, Luna will lie some 12° northeast of Antares, Scorpius’ brightest star.
Wednesday, March 2
Tonight will be a great time to become familiar with Lepus the Hare, one of the sky’s lesser-known constellations. Approximately a dozen medium-bright stars form Lepus, which sits directly below (that is, south of) Orion the Hunter. Lepus is a mid-size constellation. Out of the 88 star patterns that cover the sky, Lepus ranks 51st in size. It covers 290 square degrees, or about 0.7 percent of the sky. Lepus has two named stars, magnitude 2.6 Arneb (Alpha Leporis) and magnitude 2.9 Nihal (Beta Leporis). The best date to see the constellation (when it lies opposite the Sun in the sky as seen from Earth) is December 14, but because it sits so close to Orion, it’s easy to see throughout the Northern Hemisphere’s winter. Just don’t look for it around June 15 because that’s when the Sun is in Lepus’ part of the sky.
Thursday, March 3
Can you still spot Venus before the morning sky brightens too much? Although it rises an hour before the Sun, it doesn’t gain altitude quickly. Even 30 minutes later, it appears only 5° high in the east-southeast. Still, it shines at magnitude –3.9 and shows up in bright twilight, so chances are good that you can see it this week. This task will be much more difficult as March comes to a close.
Friday, March 4
Around 8 P.M. local time, the brightest star in the night sky — Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) — lies due south. With a magnitude of –1.46, Sirius triples the apparent light output of Orion’s brightest star, blue-white Rigel (Beta Orionis). The common name Sirius comes from the Greek term for “sparkling” or “scorching.” Richard Hinckley Allen, writing in Star Names and Their Meanings (G. E. Stechert, 1899) attributes this star’s name to the Greek poet Hesiod, who lived in the latter half of the 8th century B.C.
Saturday, March 5
Because the Moon is out of the evening sky now, this is a great time to search for asteroid 5 Astraea. Your best guide star to this main-belt asteroid is 8 Leonis, a magnitude 5.7 star located 9° northwest of Regulus (Alpha Leonis). Fortunately, this part of the spring sky is a long way from the Milky Way, so Astraea, at magnitude 9.3, glows brighter than most of the stars around it.
Sunday, March 6
Comet Ikeya-Murakami (P/2010 V1) swings past the Sun every 5.4 years, and from a dark site you can spot it tonight through a 4-inch or larger telescope within the boundaries of Leo. Just search the area 1° north of the magnitude 4.5 star Kappa Leonis. Look for a modest, non-stellar glow between 8th and 9th magnitude.

 

Source:
Astronomy Magazine