The Sky This Week for March 21 – 27
Monday, March 21
Would you like to hunt down a galaxy? With binoculars in hand, scan about one field of view east-southeast of 2nd-magnitude Phecda (Gamma [γ] Ursae Majoris), the star that forms the southeastern corner of the Big Dipper’s bowl. You should see a triangle of 5th- and 6th-magnitude stars. The spiral galaxy M106 lies 1.7° south of 3 Canum Venaticorum, the triangle’s southern tip. The galaxy will appear as an oval blur of light.
Tuesday, March 22
At midnight, as this day begins, Jupiter lies 2° north of the nearly Full Moon. Both objects rose in the eastern sky during last night’s evening twilight.
Wednesday, March 23
Full Moon arrives at 8:01 a.m. EDT. Our satellite rises in the east at sunset, lies due south and at its highest point at the middle of the night (1 a.m. local time for most of us), and sets as the Sun rises. Our satellite’s fully lit orb appears in the constellation Virgo, but its light will blot out all but the brightest stars in that pattern.
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs this morning. The event starts at 5:39:28 a.m. EDT. Greatest eclipse is at 7:47:13 EDT. The entire event is visible from the Pacific Ocean, western North America, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Observers in eastern North America miss the late stages of the eclipse because they occur after moonset. At maximum, some 78 percent of the Moon (the southern portions) lie within the Earth’s penumbra, its fainter outer shadow.
Thursday, March 24
Comet Ikeya-Murakami (P/2010 V1) swings past the Sun every 5.4 years. Tonight you’ll find it in the constellation Leo the Lion near the spectacular spiral galaxy NGC 2903. In fact, tomorrow night the comet will lie only ¼° from the galaxy. Tonight, however, train a telescope on Ikeya-Murakami and you’ll see its tail as a slash of light as it turns edge-on to us.
Friday, March 25
The Moon reaches apogee, its farthest point from Earth in any orbit, at 12 p.m. EDT. At that time, our satellite will lie 252,354 miles (406,125 kilometers) from Earth.
Saturn reaches the point in its orbit where it appears stationary from here on Earth. From this date until August 14, Saturn will be moving westward through the stars as Earth, moving faster in its orbit, passes the ringed planet. Astronomers call this apparent (westward) movement retrograde motion. Saturn will resume its normal eastward motion through the stars in mid-August.
Saturday, March 26
One of the sky’s largest asterisms — a recognizable pattern of stars separate from a constellation’s form — occupies center stage after darkness falls on March evenings. To trace the so-called Winter Hexagon, start with southern Orion’s luminary, Rigel. From there, the hexagon makes a clockwise loop. The second stop is brilliant Sirius in Canis Major. Next, pick up Procyon in the faint constellation Canis Minor, then the twins Castor and Pollux in Gemini, followed by Capella in Auriga, Aldebaran in Taurus, and finally back to Rigel.
Sunday, March 27
The variable star Algol in the constellation Perseus reaches minimum brightness at 6:26 A.M. EDT, right around the time the Sun is rising in the east. Take a look for it just before dawn starts to brighten the sky. Algol then shines at magnitude 3.4 where it will remain for a couple of hours before starting to brighten again. If you spot it the following night, you will see it at its maximum — magnitude 2.1.
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