Tour of the Sky: March 2009

This tool displays the approximate Moon phases for a given month(images are close approximations). For official phase times and dates for this month and past months are available from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Astronomical Online Glossary

Download this month's sky map!

Skymaps.com is our favorite monthly skymap provider. Download either the

Northern hemisphere sky map or theSouthern hemisphere sky map so you can follow along with our viewing sessions.
Creator: Kym Thalassoudis

Southern Hemisphere Additional Information

As Astronomy a Go Go! finds its home in the higher Northern latitudes those of you who live south of the equator will benefit from these two Southern Hemisphere sites: Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand's Southern Hemisphere Calendar RASNZ site (absolutely outstanding) and
Southern Sky Watch.

 

Planets for March 2009

This year will be a morning viewing year but we still have bright Venus in the early evening and Saturn for late night viewers!

March Morning Planets (March 1st) (click image to enlarge)

 

• Mercury- By the 1st of March Mercury will neck-and-neck with Mars. 0.6 mag (1st) to 0.0 mag (21st)
• Venus- Make sure you share Venus with your friends and let them see the wonderful 'phases' she shares with our Moon. -4.4 mag (1st) to -4.5 mag (21st)
• Mars- Start looking later in the month when on the 24th it is paired with Mercury. 1.3 (1st) to 1.3 mag (21st)
  
• Jupiter- -1.9 mag (1st) to -1.9 mag (21st)
  
• Saturn- In eastern Leo Saturn's rings are inclined 1.74 beg towards Earth and will be at opposition on March 8th 0.9 mag (1st) to 0.9 mag (21st)
• Uranus- In Aquarius 5.9 mag (1st) to 5.9 mag (21st)
• Neptune- In Capricorn 8.0 mag (1st) to 8.0 mag (21st)
• Ceresand Eta - Finder chart from the New Zealand RAS (RASNZ) great charts! Northern Hemisphere observers this time you get to flip the chart or stand on your head!
  Vesta chart temporarily missing...use this one until site is corrected

Key Dates for March 2009

Days and Times in UT: (help with time)
Observations are for 10 pm for the mid-southern latitudes and for 7 pm for the mid-northern latitudes.
Today's sunrise and sunset times or plan ahead using the US Naval Observatory Website

Occultation information can be found at the IOTA website!

Astronomical Highlights - March 2009

Watch for Comet Lulin throughout the beginning of the month, crusing along the ecliptic, from east to west.

4	- First Quarter Moon
7	- Moon at perigee (367017 km)
11	- Full Moon (2:38 UT)
13	- Zodiacal Lights - visible in Northern latitudes in the West in the evening twilight
13	- Uranus in conjunction with the Sun...moving into the morning
18	- Last Quarter Moon
17	- Antares 0.2 deg S of Moon possible occultation in your area.
19	- Moon at apogee (404299 km)
	- Mercury 0.6 deg S of Jupiter
26	- New Moon (16:06 UT)

Date information courtesy of: RASC Observer's Handbook, Skymaps.com, Astronomical Calendar 2009, CalSky, Skymaps.com. sunrise and sunset times for your home*
Comparative lengths of day and night

Monthly Messier*

This month we will look for 10 objects, 8 open clusters in the southern milky way and a pair of galaxies, all are within reach of binoculars. The open clusters are easy binocular targets and most are visible with the naked eye. M81 and M82 are difficult binocular targets that offer a stunning telescopic view.

(I'm trying to find out what has happened to the NGC/IC Project homepage. It has been a standard AAGG reference for 3 years but seems to have disappeared! If you have any information on this great site please let me know....until then the images will be from: "Messier45.com" )

M41

This cluster in Canis Major is visible as a hazy patch to the naked eye just below Sirius. M41 is resolvable in binoculars and appears fairly loose in telescopes at low power.

M93

This is a small fuzzy patch of light in Puppis, partially resolvable in binoculars. The hardest part of finding this cluster in binoculars is picking it out of a fairly rich region of the milky way. Use low power to examine this cluster and the surrounding richness in a telescope. Medium power provides a nice view of the cluster itself.

M47

A bright cluster in Puppis, easily visible as a hazy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars will show a large hazy patch with many stars resolvable. Telescopes show a fairly loose cluster with stars of wide variety of magnitudes.

M46

This cluster is right next to M47 and is also visible to the naked eye. In binoculars M46 appears as a large hazy patch with no stars resolvable, giving a nice contrast to M47. In telescopes at low powers this cluster evenly fills the eyepiece. While you are here go to medium or high power and look for the planetary nebula NGC2438. It will appear as a faint uneven ring, with a blue/green color.

M50

An open cluster in Monoceros. This is a small hazy patch in binoculars, partially resolvable. Like M93, the richness of the surrounding field is the only difficulty in finding this object. This is a fairly tight cluster at low power in a telescope.

M48

Moving on to Hydra, we find another naked eye cluster. M48 is a large fuzzy patch in binoculars, partially resolvable. Use low to medium power in your telescope for a spectacular view.

M67

In the southeast portion of Cancer is another open cluster, barely visible as a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars show M67 as a large hazy patch of light, similar to M46. Use low power to resolve this large, rich cluster in a telescope.

M44

Known as the Praesepe or Beehive Cluster, this open cluster is easily visible to the naked eye as a large, fuzzy patch bigger than the moon. Binoculars or rich field telescopes provide the best view of M44.

M81, M82

This pair of galaxies in Ursa Major are very possible to see in binoculars, they look like a pair of fuzzy stars. Both galaxies will fit into the same low power telescope field. M81 will appear as a large oval gray patch of light. M82 is a pencil like streak of light next to and perpendicular to the long axis of M81.

From the Tony Cecce, Corning, NY - Twelve Month Tour of The Messier Catalog

Comets for March 2009

• 85P/Boethin: ~7 mag - in Pisces, early evening
• 144P/Kushida: ~ 8 mag - in Taurus, evening
• C/2007 N3/Lulin: ~5 mag in Virgo and Leo, late evening
• 210P/2008 X4/Christensen: ~7 mag in Ophiuchus, pre-dawn

More comet information at Seiichi Yoshida's comet website. Also checkout Gary Kronk's comet and meteor pages
Skyhound Comet pages

Historical and Current Events

...Did you know?

Mark has developed his own website so let's all trot on over and see the pages of wonderful history he has for us this month!

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Music Scottish Guitar Quartet -"Romance Within You"
Great Big Sea- "French Shore"
Amaryoni- "Woza"