Month: March 2022

19 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Waning Gibbous Phase. This is the first phase after the Full Moon occurs. It lasts roughly 7 days with the Moon’s illumination growing smaller each day until the Moon becomes a Last Quarter Moon with an illumination of 50%. The average Moon rise for this phase is between 9pm and Midnight depending on the age of the phase. The moon rises later and later each night setting after sunrise in the morning. During this phase the Moon can also be seen in the early morning daylight hours on the western horizon.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waning Gibbous Phase

The Waning Gibbous on March 19 has an illumination of 98%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 19 the Moon is 15.99 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waning Gibbous
Illumination: 98%
Moon Age: 15.99 days
Moon Angle: 0.53
Moon Distance: 377,499.47 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,966,088.97 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

Celtic Tree Month of the Alder Moon: March 18 – April 14, 2022

From LearnReligions.com

At the time of the Spring Equinox, or Ostara, the Alder is flourishing on riverbanks, roots in the water, bridging that magical space between both heaven and earth. The Alder month, called Fearn by the Celts, and pronounced fairin, is a time for making spiritual decisions, magic relating to prophecy and divination, and getting in touch with your own intuitive processes and abilities. Alder flowers and twigs are known as charms to be used in Faerie magic. Whistles were once made out of Alder shoots to call upon Air spirits, so it’s an ideal wood for making a pipe or flute if you’re musically inclined.

From Ireland-Calling.com

Alder tree in Celtic mythology – balanced between male and female –

Fearn, F – The alder represents the third letter of the ogham alphabet ‘Fearn’ and the fourth month in the Celtic tree calendar.

In Celtic mythology, the alder tree was symbolic of a balance between female and male principles since it possesses both female and male catkins on the same branch.

The alder is a member of the birch family generally found near streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. It is known for creating a fertile, lush environment for surrounding animal and plant life.

Tree of fairies for the ancient druids

The druids also associated the tree with courage and the evolving spirit, and linked it with death and resurrection. This belief was shared in Austria too, where the wood of the alder was thought to make the dead come back to life.

Alder wood good for building

The sap, leaves and bark of the alder were all used to make dyes; green from the leaves, red from the sap and brown from the bark. The dyes were often used to tan leather. Wood of the alder is flexible and resistant to the rotting effects of water.

Due to these qualities it was often used to build bridges, pipes, milk pales and pilings for causeways across marshlands. Parts of Venice were built on alder pilings.

In medicine, the alder leaves and bark, which contain tannins, were used as an antiseptic and an astringent to treat skin wounds, rashes and swollen glands.

According to the Woodland League of Ireland, the value of the alder to the Irish in the past was for making clogs, masts of ships and shields. Alder wood was particularly impressive as a shield.

It is so hard that if an opponent buried his axe in the shield, he would find it almost impossible to withdraw it. This would render him defenceless and an easier target to attack.

The alder supports more than 70 different insects, many of them specific to the alder, meaning they can’t survive on another tree.

Discover more about the alder in this video from the Irish Woodland League

March 18 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 March 18

A Filament in Monoceros

Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgio Ferrari

Explanation: Bluish reflection nebulae seem to fill this dusty expanse. The sharp telescopic frame spans over 1 degree on the sky toward the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen within the Monoceros R1 cloud complex some 2,500 light-years away, bluish IC 447 is on the left, joined by a long dark filament of dust to IC 446 at lower right. Embedded in IC 447 are young, massive blue stars much hotter than the Sun, whose light is reflected by the cosmic cloud of star stuff. Observations reveal that IC 446 also contains a young stellar object, a massive star still in an early stage of evolution. The dark filament of dust and molecular gas joining the two star-forming regions is over 15 light-years long.

March 18, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Custom Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Full Moon phase. During a Full Moon the moon is 100% illuminated as seen from Earth and is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The Moon will be visible throughout the night sky rising at sunset in the east and setting with the sunrise the next morning. The point at which a Full Moon occurs can be measured down to a fraction of a second. The time it takes between full moons is known as a Synodic month and is 29.530587981 days long. Keep track of all the Full Moons throughout the year on the Full Moon Calendar >

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Full Moon Phase

The Full Moon on March 18 has an illumination of 100%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 18 the Moon is 14.95 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Full Moon
Illumination: 100%
Moon Age: 14.95 days
Moon Angle: 0.52
Moon Distance: 382,254.06 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,924,377.11 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you want to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Los Angeles, California, USA

March 18, 2022
11:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM PDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:28 Pisces 19
Moon:06 Libra 33
Mercury:14 Pisces 42
Venus:11 Aquarius 47
Mars:09 Aquarius 30
Jupiter:18 Pisces 12
Saturn:20 Aquarius 46
Uranus:12 Taurus 16
Neptune:23 Pisces 05
Pluto:28 Capricorn 11
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 52 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 27 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):27 Gemini 00
Chiron:11 Aries 32
Ceres:09 Gemini 02
Pallas:12 Aries 18
Juno:17 Aquarius 47
Vesta:03 Aquarius 54
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:4
Air:8
Water:4
Cardinal:5
Fixed:8
Mutable:6

Northern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

March 18, 2022
09:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:28 Pisces 14
Moon:05 Libra 25
Mercury:14 Pisces 33
Venus:11 Aquarius 42
Mars:09 Aquarius 27
Jupiter:18 Pisces 11
Saturn:20 Aquarius 45
Uranus:12 Taurus 15
Neptune:23 Pisces 05
Pluto:28 Capricorn 11
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 52 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 28 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):27 Gemini 00
Chiron:11 Aries 31
Ceres:09 Gemini 00
Pallas:12 Aries 16
Juno:17 Aquarius 46
Vesta:03 Aquarius 52
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:4
Air:8
Water:4
Cardinal:5
Fixed:8
Mutable:6

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

18 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 59
Moon:02 Libra 01
Mercury:14 Pisces 07
Venus:11 Aquarius 27
Mars:09 Aquarius 15
Jupiter:18 Pisces 07
Saturn:20 Aquarius 44
Uranus:12 Taurus 15
Neptune:23 Pisces 04
Pluto:28 Capricorn 11
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 54 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 28 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 58
Chiron:11 Aries 31
Ceres:08 Gemini 56
Pallas:12 Aries 10
Juno:17 Aquarius 40
Vesta:03 Aquarius 45
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:4
Air:8
Water:4
Cardinal:5
Fixed:8
Mutable:6

18 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Custom Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

Today and tonight the Moon will be in a Full Moon phase. During a Full Moon the moon is 100% illuminated as seen from Earth and is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The Moon will be visible throughout the night sky rising at sunset in the east and setting with the sunrise the next morning. The point at which a Full Moon occurs can be measured down to a fraction of a second. The time it takes between full moons is known as a Synodic month and is 29.530587981 days long. Keep track of all the Full Moons throughout the year on the Full Moon Calendar >

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Full Moon Phase

The Full Moon on March 18 has an illumination of 100%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 18 the Moon is 14.95 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Full Moon
Illumination: 100%
Moon Age: 14.95 days
Moon Angle: 0.52
Moon Distance: 382,254.06 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,924,377.11 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

 For Your Local Time and Date

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

18 March 2022
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:28 Pisces 12
Moon:04 Libra 51
Mercury:14 Pisces 29
Venus:11 Aquarius 40
Mars:09 Aquarius 25
Jupiter:18 Pisces 10
Saturn:20 Aquarius 45
Uranus:12 Taurus 15
Neptune:23 Pisces 05
Pluto:28 Capricorn 11
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 53 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 28 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 59
Chiron:11 Aries 31
Ceres:08 Gemini 59
Pallas:12 Aries 15
Juno:17 Aquarius 45
Vesta:03 Aquarius 51
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:4
Air:8
Water:4
Cardinal:5
Fixed:8
Mutable:6

 

Southern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Cape Town, South Africa

18 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM SAST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 59
Moon:02 Libra 01
Mercury:14 Pisces 07
Venus:11 Aquarius 27
Mars:09 Aquarius 15
Jupiter:18 Pisces 07
Saturn:20 Aquarius 44
Uranus:12 Taurus 15
Neptune:23 Pisces 04
Pluto:28 Capricorn 11
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 54 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 28 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 58
Chiron:11 Aries 31
Ceres:08 Gemini 56
Pallas:12 Aries 10
Juno:17 Aquarius 40
Vesta:03 Aquarius 45
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:4
Air:8
Water:4
Cardinal:5
Fixed:8
Mutable:6

 

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

18 March 2022
06:00 am GMT 5:00T PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 37
Moon:26 Virgo 57
Mercury:13 Pisces 28
Venus:11 Aquarius 05
Mars:08 Aquarius 58
Jupiter:18 Pisces 02
Saturn:20 Aquarius 41
Uranus:12 Taurus 14
Neptune:23 Pisces 03
Pluto:28 Capricorn 10
True Lunar Node:23 Taurus 58 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 30 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 55
Chiron:11 Aries 29
Ceres:08 Gemini 49
Pallas:12 Aries 01
Juno:17 Aquarius 31
Vesta:03 Aquarius 34

Eris:24 Aries 03

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

March 17, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Custom Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on March 17 has an illumination of 99%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 17 the Moon is 13.93 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 99%
Moon Age: 13.93 days
Moon Angle: 0.51
Moon Distance: 387,085.30 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,882,854.92 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you want to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Los Angeles, California, USA

March 17, 2022
11:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM PDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 20
Moon:23 Virgo 02
Mercury:12 Pisces 58
Venus:10 Aquarius 48
Mars:08 Aquarius 45
Jupiter:17 Pisces 58
Saturn:20 Aquarius 40
Uranus:12 Taurus 13
Neptune:23 Pisces 03
Pluto:28 Capricorn 10
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 00 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 31 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 53
Chiron:11 Aries 28
Ceres:08 Gemini 43
Pallas:11 Aries 54
Juno:17 Aquarius 24
Vesta:03 Aquarius 26
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

Northern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

March 17, 2022
09:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 15
Moon:21 Virgo 55
Mercury:12 Pisces 49
Venus:10 Aquarius 43
Mars:08 Aquarius 41
Jupiter:17 Pisces 56
Saturn:20 Aquarius 39
Uranus:12 Taurus 13
Neptune:23 Pisces 02
Pluto:28 Capricorn 10
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 01 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 31 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 53
Chiron:11 Aries 28
Ceres:08 Gemini 42
Pallas:11 Aries 52
Juno:17 Aquarius 22
Vesta:03 Aquarius 23
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

17 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 00
Moon:18 Virgo 34
Mercury:12 Pisces 24
Venus:10 Aquarius 29
Mars:08 Aquarius 30
Jupiter:17 Pisces 53
Saturn:20 Aquarius 37
Uranus:12 Taurus 12
Neptune:23 Pisces 02
Pluto:28 Capricorn 09
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 04 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 32 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 51
Chiron:11 Aries 27
Ceres:08 Gemini 37
Pallas:11 Aries 46
Juno:17 Aquarius 16
Vesta:03 Aquarius 16
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

Witchcraft/Magickal Correspondence Digest for Thursday

From APaganMess.com

Planet: Jupiter
Element: Earth
Colors: Deep blue, purple green
Keywords: Expansion, Luck, Abundance, Protection, Stability, Joy, Pleasure, Employment, Leadership

Thursdays are perfect for spells for money and abundance. Anything that you are wanting to bring in more of will benefit from the expansive and abundant energy of Jupiter.

From aMagickalPath.co.uk

Planet – Jupiter

Spells/Magic – money, prosperity, holiday, travel, business, luck, growth, self improvement, generosity, health, wealth

Magical aspects: controlled optimism, energetic growth, physical well-being, material success, expansion, money/wealth, prosperity, leadership, and generosity.

Oils – lime, magnolia, strawberry, vanilla

plants and trees – sage, nutmeg,oak tree,meadowsweet, hyssop,borage,butterfly weed,clove,dandelion chestnut,maple tree, anise .

Stones – Amethyst, laptis lazuli, sapphire

Colours – blue, metallic colours, green, turquoise, white, purple.

Metal – Tin

Energy Type – Male

Dieties – dedicated to Thor, god of thunder and agricultural work. his parallels in various European Traditions include Zeus, Taranis, Perun, and Perkunas.

Thursday is the best time to deal with such matters as: Business, Gambling, Logic, Social Matters, Political Power, Material Wealth, Publishing, Collage Education, Long Distance Travel, Foreign Interests, Religion, Philosophy, Forecasting, Broadcasting, Publicity, Expansion, Luck, Growth, Sports, Horses, The Law, Doctors, Guardians, Merchants, Psychologists, Charity, Correspondence Courses, Self-improvement, Researching, Reading and Studying.

Click here for more Thursday correspondences from Spells8.com

Magick Candle

Light a blue candle to connect deeply with your spirituality today. Meditating with a blue candle creates a sense of harmony, serenity and peace. It also boosts creativity, patience and mindfulness.

Ruling Deities

Wiccan Goddess Gaia Wiccan God Osiris Wiccan God Poseidon Wiccan God Pan Wiccan God ZeusCernunnos, Gaia, Osiris, Pan, Poseidon and Zeus are rulers of Thursdays.

Crystals

Amethyst, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Tiger’s Eye, and Sugilite.

Carrying these gemstones today can bring success and fulfillment of your goals. Wear them as a talisman or simply keep them close to you to harness their energy.

Potion

Drink a cup of Green Tea today to strengthen your focus. Green tea is loaded with beneficial antioxidants, and, besides caffeine, green tea contains aminoacids that help boost brain function. It has a large amount of L-theanine, an amino acid that is beneficial for memory, attention, concentration and learning.

From ask-angels.com

Angel of Thursday: Archangel Zadkiel or Archangel Sachiel

There are references which list Zadkiel and Sachiel as the same being… However, my experience is that they each have an individualized Divine I Am Core, so I’ll describe them both for you here.

Archangel Zadkiel “Righteousness of God” 

Zadkiel carries the flame of righteousness and forgiveness and will assist you in releasing any forgiveness held towards yourself or others so that you can remember the full truth of who you are. Forgiveness will assist you in releasing heavy emotions like fear and anger into the light to be transmuted back into love.  Archangel Zadkiel is happy to help you strengthen your connection with the Divine. He can also help you to transmute negative back into pure light, and positive energy, with the Violet Flame.

Archangel Sachiel “The Covering of God”

Sachiel or Sachael is an angel of wealth, water, success and prosperity. Sachiel’s energy is big, bright, soothing and incredibly uplifting. His bright loving presence brings hope, inspires health, cuts through negative emotional energy, depression and despair by reconnecting you with the true authenticity of your soul light and purpose. Sachiel supports with expansion and growth in all ways, helping those who call upon him to sync with the flow abundance, prosperity and good fortune.

March 17 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 March 17

Centaurus A

Image Credit & Copyright: David Alemazkour

Explanation: A mere 11 million light-years away, Centaurus A is the closest active galaxy to planet Earth. Spanning over 60,000 light-years, the peculiar elliptical galaxy also known as NGC 5128, is featured in this sharp telescopic view. Centaurus A is apparently the result of a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies resulting in a fantastic jumble of star clusters and imposing dark dust lanes. Near the galaxy’s center, leftover cosmic debris is steadily being consumed by a central black hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun. As in other active galaxies, that process likely generates the enormous radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray energy radiated by Centaurus A.

17 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Custom Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

 

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

 For Your Local Time and Date

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

17 March 2022
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 12
Moon:21 Virgo 21
Mercury:12 Pisces 45
Venus:10 Aquarius 41
Mars:08 Aquarius 40
Jupiter:17 Pisces 56
Saturn:20 Aquarius 39
Uranus:12 Taurus 13
Neptune:23 Pisces 02
Pluto:28 Capricorn 10
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 02 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 31 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 53
Chiron:11 Aries 28
Ceres:08 Gemini 41
Pallas:11 Aries 51
Juno:17 Aquarius 21
Vesta:03 Aquarius 22
Eris:24 Aries 03
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7
Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Southern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Cape Town, South Africa

17 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM SAST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:27 Pisces 00
Moon:18 Virgo 34
Mercury:12 Pisces 24
Venus:10 Aquarius 29
Mars:08 Aquarius 30
Jupiter:17 Pisces 53
Saturn:20 Aquarius 37
Uranus:12 Taurus 12
Neptune:23 Pisces 02
Pluto:28 Capricorn 09
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 04 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 32 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 51
Chiron:11 Aries 27
Ceres:08 Gemini 37
Pallas:11 Aries 46
Juno:17 Aquarius 16
Vesta:03 Aquarius 16
Eris:24 Aries 03

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7
Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

17 March 2022
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 37
Moon:13 Virgo 36
Mercury:11 Pisces 45
Venus:10 Aquarius 07
Mars:08 Aquarius 13
Jupiter:17 Pisces 47
Saturn:20 Aquarius 35
Uranus:12 Taurus 11
Neptune:23 Pisces 01
Pluto:28 Capricorn 09
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 08 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 33 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 49
Chiron:11 Aries 26
Ceres:08 Gemini 31
Pallas:11 Aries 38
Juno:17 Aquarius 08
Vesta:03 Aquarius 06
Eris:24 Aries 02
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

March 16, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase and Custom Planetary Positions

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on March 16 has an illumination of 96%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 16 the Moon is 12.94 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 96%
Moon Age: 12.94 days
Moon Angle: 0.51
Moon Distance: 391,735.01 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,841,535.03 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

If you want to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Los Angeles, California, USA

 March 16, 2022
11:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM PDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 20
Moon:09 Virgo 46
Mercury:11 Pisces 15
Venus:09 Aquarius 50
Mars:08 Aquarius 00
Jupiter:17 Pisces 43
Saturn:20 Aquarius 33
Uranus:12 Taurus 10
Neptune:23 Pisces 00
Pluto:28 Capricorn 09
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 11 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 34 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 47
Chiron:11 Aries 25
Ceres:08 Gemini 25
Pallas:11 Aries 31
Juno:17 Aquarius 01
Vesta:02 Aquarius 58
Eris:24 Aries 02
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7
Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Northern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

March 16, 2022
09:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 15
Moon:08 Virgo 40
Mercury:11 Pisces 07
Venus:09 Aquarius 45
Mars:07 Aquarius 56
Jupiter:17 Pisces 42
Saturn:20 Aquarius 33
Uranus:12 Taurus 10
Neptune:23 Pisces 00
Pluto:28 Capricorn 09
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 11 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 34 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 46
Chiron:11 Aries 25
Ceres:08 Gemini 24
Pallas:11 Aries 29
Juno:16 Aquarius 59
Vesta:02 Aquarius 55
Eris:24 Aries 02
Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7
Obliquity of the Nine Planets

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

16 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 00
Moon:05 Virgo 25
Mercury:10 Pisces 41
Venus:09 Aquarius 31
Mars:07 Aquarius 45
Jupiter:17 Pisces 38
Saturn:20 Aquarius 31
Uranus:12 Taurus 09
Neptune:23 Pisces 00
Pluto:28 Capricorn 08
True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 14 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 35 Rx
Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 45

Chiron:11 Aries 24

Ceres:08 Gemini 19
Pallas:11 Aries 23
Juno:16 Aquarius 53
Vesta:02 Aquarius 48
Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

March 16 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 March 16

The Observable Universe

Illustration Credit & Licence: Wikipedia, Pablo Carlos Budassi

Explanation: How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you — is the observable universe. In light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was opaque like thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have the technology to detect them. The featured image illustrates the observable universe on an increasingly compact scale, with the Earth and Sun at the center surrounded by our Solar System, nearby stars, nearby galaxies, distant galaxies, filaments of early matter, and the cosmic microwave background. Cosmologists typically assume that our observable universe is just the nearby part of a greater entity known as “the universe” where the same physics applies. However, there are several lines of popular but speculative reasoning that assert that even our universe is part of a greater multiverse where either different physical constants occur, different physical laws apply, higher dimensions operate, or slightly different-by-chance versions of our standard universe exist.

 

Available: High res image version with readable annotations | Clickable annotation version

A Thought for Today

16 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on March 16 has an illumination of 96%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 16 the Moon is 12.94 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 96%
Moon Age: 12.94 days
Moon Angle: 0.51
Moon Distance: 391,735.01 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,841,535.03 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

 

 

16 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Custom Planetary Positions

If you need to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) to your local time use this link

 For Your Local Time and Date 

Southeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America

16 March 2022
08:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM BRT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 12
Moon:08 Virgo 08
Mercury:11 Pisces 03
Venus:09 Aquarius 43
Mars:07 Aquarius 55
Jupiter:17 Pisces 41
Saturn:20 Aquarius 33
Uranus:12 Taurus 10
Neptune:23 Pisces 00
Pluto:28 Capricorn 08

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 12 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 34 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 46

Chiron:11 Aries 24
Ceres:08 Gemini 23
Pallas:11 Aries 28
Juno:16 Aquarius 58
Vesta:02 Aquarius 54

Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

 

Southern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Cape Town, South Africa

16 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 5:00 PM SAST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:26 Pisces 00
Moon:05 Virgo 25
Mercury:10 Pisces 41
Venus:09 Aquarius 31
Mars:07 Aquarius 45
Jupiter:17 Pisces 38
Saturn:20 Aquarius 31
Uranus:12 Taurus 09
Neptune:23 Pisces 00
Pluto:28 Capricorn 08

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 14 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 35 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 45

Chiron:11 Aries 24
Ceres:08 Gemini 19
Pallas:11 Aries 23
Juno:16 Aquarius 53
Vesta:02 Aquarius 48

Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

Southwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 

16 March 2022
06:00 am GMT 5:00 PM AEDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:25 Pisces 38
Moon:00 Virgo 33
Mercury:10 Pisces 03
Venus:09 Aquarius 09
Mars:07 Aquarius 28
Jupiter:17 Pisces 33
Saturn:20 Aquarius 29
Uranus:12 Taurus 08
Neptune:22 Pisces 59
Pluto:28 Capricorn 08

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 18 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 36 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 42

Chiron:11 Aries 22
Ceres:08 Gemini 13
Pallas:11 Aries 14
Juno:16 Aquarius 44
Vesta:02 Aquarius 37

Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:3
Earth:5
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:8
Mutable:7

March 15, 2022 Your Daily Horoscopes Digest

Click here for Georgia Nicols’ Daily Horoscopes 

Moon Alert

Caution! Avoid shopping or making important decisions after 6:45 AM EDT today and for the rest of the day. (3:45 AM to 10 PM PDT). The Moon is in Leo.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

There is a Moon Alert today, which means refrain from spending money, except on food and gas. However, this particular Moon Alert is in a creative part of your chart, which means your artistic energy will soar! Use this however you can. You are the artisan of the zodiac.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You can best use today’s energy to hunker down at home and relate to family in a genuine, more open way. That’s because all today is a Moon Alert, which will encourage you to let your hair down and tell it like it is. Postpone important decisions until tomorrow.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

This is a loosey-goosey day! There is a Moon Alert all day, which might make you feel indecisive and unsure of what to do next. It’s a good day to explore new ideas as well as brainstorm thoughts with others. Wait until tomorrow to settle on anything.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Do be aware of the restrictions of today’s Moon Alert because it is taking place in your Money House. Restrict spending to food and gas. Postpone important decisions and financial matters until tomorrow.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Today, virtually all day, there is a Moon Alert in Leo! This means your mind is freewheeling and soaring like a helium balloon cut free in the sky. You will more easily grasp creative ideas because you can think outside of the box. But wait until tomorrow to agree to anything important.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Because there is a Moon Alert today occurring in a hidden part of your chart, this is an excellent day for meditation, yoga or any quiet activity that helps to calm your mind and make you feel more grounded. Restrict spending to food and gas.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Relations with friends as well as members of groups will be friendly and possibly, more frank than usual because of today’s Moon Alert. Nevertheless, don’t volunteer for anything or agree to anything important.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

You are high viz. today, which means other people notice you more than usual, especially bosses, VIPs and the police. Because of the Moon Alert, you might make a mistake or be confused. Don’t volunteer for anything. Wait until tomorrow to make any kind of commitment.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Today there is a Moon Alert in effect all day, which will allow you to explore ideas you don’t normally consider. It will make it easier for you to listen to people whose views are different from yours. Nevertheless, wait until tomorrow to agree to anything important.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

The Moon Alert today, which is in effect all day, takes place in your House of Other People’s Money. This means this is a poor day to make decisions about shared property, taxes, debt or insurance issues. Do your research but wait until tomorrow to sign the dotted line.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Relations with partners and close friends will be fuzzy today because there is a Moon Alert happening all day long opposite your sign. This will promote honest and open conversations, but they might be confusing. Don’t hold anyone to anything today. All bets are off until tomorrow.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Issues at work might be clouded and confused because of today’s Moon Alert. Expect shortages and delays. Carry on with business as usual as best you can but wait until tomorrow to make important decisions. (With four planets in your sign, you will all the cards.)

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actress Eva Longoria (1975) shares your birthday today. You are hard-working and responsible. You are also very persuasive when you want to be. You are a caring person and always helpful to others. This year there is a strong focus on personal responsibility and service to others, which is why you must take excellent care of yourself. In fact, some of you might even consider a makeover.

March 15, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on March 15 has an illumination of 91%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 15 the Moon is 11.97 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 91%
Moon Age: 11.97 days
Moon Angle: 0.50
Moon Distance: 395,968.33 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,800,430.03 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society

March 15, 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest for the Northern Hemisphere’s Custom Planetary Positions

If you want to calculate the planetary positions for a specific use and time, click on this link

Currentplanetarypositions.com

To figure out GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for your local time use this link

For Your Local Time and Date

Northwestern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Los Angeles, California, USA

March 15, 2022
11:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM PDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:25 Pisces 20
Moon:26 Leo 48
Mercury:09 Pisces 34
Venus:08 Aquarius 52
Mars:07 Aquarius 15
Jupiter:17 Pisces 29
Saturn:20 Aquarius 27
Uranus:12 Taurus 08
Neptune:22 Pisces 58
Pluto:28 Capricorn 07

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 21 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 37 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 40

Chiron:11 Aries 21
Ceres:08 Gemini 07
Pallas:11 Aries 07
Juno:16 Aquarius 38
Vesta:02 Aquarius 29

Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:4
Earth:4
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:9
Mutable:6

 

Northern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Chicago, Illinois, USA

March 15, 2022
09:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CDT
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:25 Pisces 15
Moon:25 Leo 44
Mercury:09 Pisces 26
Venus:08 Aquarius 48
Mars:07 Aquarius 11
Jupiter:17 Pisces 28
Saturn:20 Aquarius 26
Uranus:12 Taurus 07
Neptune:22 Pisces 58
Pluto:28 Capricorn 07

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 22 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 37 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 40

Chiron:11 Aries 21
Ceres:08 Gemini 06
Pallas:11 Aries 05
Juno:16 Aquarius 36
Vesta:02 Aquarius 27

Eris:24 Aries 02

Fire:4
Earth:4
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:9
Mutable:6

Northeastern Hemisphere

The time for these Custom Planetary Positions is from the local time in Frankfurt, Germany, Europe

15 March 2022
03:00 pm GMT 4:00 PM CEST
Zodiac: Tropical (Standard Western)

Sun:25 Pisces 00
Moon:22 Leo 33
Mercury:09 Pisces 00
Venus:08 Aquarius 33
Mars:07 Aquarius 00
Jupiter:17 Pisces 24
Saturn:20 Aquarius 25
Uranus:12 Taurus 07
Neptune:22 Pisces 57
Pluto:28 Capricorn 07

True Lunar Node:24 Taurus 25 Rx
Mean Lunar Node:25 Taurus 38 Rx

Lilith (Black Moon):26 Gemini 38

Chiron:11 Aries 20
Ceres:08 Gemini 01
Pallas:10 Aries 59
Juno:16 Aquarius 30
Vesta:02 Aquarius 20

Eris:24 Aries 01

Fire:4
Earth:4
Air:7
Water:4
Cardinal:4
Fixed:9
Mutable:6

March 15 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 March 15

A Road to the Stars

Image Credit: ESO, Petr Horálek (ESO Photo Ambassador, Inst. of Physics in Opava)

A stunning night view, taken close to the 1.54m Danish Telescope and the 3.6m telescope on the road at La Silla, shows the Milky Way above the horizon, accompanied by the Magellanic Clouds. ESO’s 3.6m Telescope, seen here atop a hill at the centre of the image, is home to HARPS, an instrument dedicated to the discovery of planets outside the Solar System via the radial velocity method. This method enables the detection of a planet by measuring the wobbling motion of the central star caused by the gravitational pull of the planet itself.  The towers on the left are the support structures of the BlackGEM telescopes, which had not been installed yet when this image was taken. BlackGEM is an array of telescopes that will search for the light emitted by the optical counterparts of the most powerful gravitational-wave sources, namely colliding neutron stars and black holes.  On the right of the image, we see the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two irregular dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way at a distance of approximately 160 000 and 200 000 light-years, respectively. In the Mapuche culture of south-central Chile, these neighbouring galaxies were known as lafken, labken or künchalabken (“the lagoons”) as well as rünanko (“the water wells”). [1] The red filamentary emission stretching across the sky in the horizon is called airglow, which is light naturally emitted by atoms and molecules in the atmosphere through various physical and chemical processes. Despite showing up prominently in this image, airglow is invisible to the unaided eye.   [1] Source: Wenumapu. Astronomía y Cosmología Mapuche, Gabriel Pozo Menares & Margarita Canio Llanquinao
Explanation: Pictured — a very scenic road to the stars. The road approaches La Silla Observatory in Chile, with the ESO‘s 3.6-meter telescope just up ahead. To the left are some futuristic-looking support structures for the planned BlackGEM telescopes, an array of optical telescopes that will help locate optical counterparts to gravitational waves detections by LIGO and other detectors. But there is much more. Red airglow illuminates the night sky on the right, while the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy slants across the image center. Jupiter can be seen just above the band near the image center, while Saturn is visible just above the 3.6-meter telescope dome. The two largest satellite galaxies of our Milky Way Galaxy, the LMC and SMC, are seen on the far right. The featured image panorama was built up from multiple 15-second exposures that were captured on 2019 June 30. Two days later, La Silla experienced a rare total eclipse of the Sun.

15 March 2022 Daily Correspondence Digest Southern Hemisphere’s Moon Phase

You can use this link to go forward or backward in time for Moon phase information. If you are curious, you can even find out what phase the Moon was in when you or anyone else was born.

From Moongiant.com

The Moon’s current phase for today and tonight is a Waxing Gibbous phase. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon. The phase lasts about 7 days with the moon becoming more illuminated each day until the Full Moon. During a Waxing Gibbous the moon rises in the east in mid-afternoon and is high in the eastern sky at sunset. The moon is then visible through most of the night sky setting a few hours before sunrise. The word Gibbous first appeared in the 14th century and has its roots in the Latin word “gibbosus” meaning humpbacked.

Visit the March 2022 Moon Phases Calendar to see all the daily moon phase for this month.

Today’s Waxing Gibbous Phase

The Waxing Gibbous on March 15 has an illumination of 91%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. The illumination is constantly changing and can vary up to 10% a day. On March 15 the Moon is 11.97 days old. This refers to how many days it has been since the last New Moon. It takes 29.53 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and go through the lunar cycle of all 8 Moon phases.

The 8 Lunar Phases

There are 8 lunar phases the Moon goes through in its 29.53 days lunar cycle. The 4 major Moon phases are Full Moon, New Moon, First Quarter and Last Quarter. Between these major phases, there are 4 minor ones: the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous and Waning Crescent. For more info on the Moon Cycle and on each phase check out Wikipedia Lunar Phase page.

Phase Details

Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 91%
Moon Age: 11.97 days
Moon Angle: 0.50
Moon Distance: 395,968.33 km
Sun Angle: 0.54
Sun Distance: 148,800,430.03 km

Useful Moon Resources

Check the weather before a night of Moon gazing at weather.com

For a list of all the current meteor showers visit American Meteor Society