It’s the best of all worlds, looking out from our world this month. March stargazing is fantastic, because you still have Orion and all of the great constellations of winter in the northwestern Washington skies, and from here on, on most nights the chill of winter has eased a bit. In fact spring begins, at least astronomically, at 4:44 a.m. March 20.
Venus has been lighting up our southwestern skies in the evenings all winter long, but it will be pulling a disappearing act this month.
As March marches on, the bright planet will move closer and closer to the sun in our sky, setting earlier and earlier each evening as a result. After about midmonth, Venus will set so close to the sun that it will be lost in our home star’s glare. It will start its performance in the predawn eastern sky later this spring.
If you’re a frequent flyer to this column you know that I’m not a huge fan of Venus as a telescope target. As bright as it is, I think it’s boring through a scope.
Venus has a thick poisonous cloud cover that totally overwhelms the planet. It has a very reflective atmosphere and that’s why it’s so bright. Sunlight bounces off it like it’s a mirror.
The one cool thing about telescoping Venus is that, just like our moon, it goes through phase changes as it orbits around the sun. During its disappearing act this month most of the sunlit half of Venus will be turned away from Earth, leaving us with a crescent Venus. As we move toward mid-March that crescent will get thinner and thinner.
It’s kind of ironic, though, because as the crescent gets progressively thinner, the planet named after the goddess of love is nearing its closest approach to Earth. By midmonth it will be less than 28 million miles away from Earth. The closer Venus gets to us, the less it shows of itself.
The grand winter constellation Orion and his gang of other bright stars and planets continue to light up the southern heavens. Around Orion are the constellations Taurus, Auriga the chariot driver, the big and little dogs Canis Major and Minor, and Gemini.
In the north sky, the Big Dipper is standing up on its handle. The fainter Little Dipper is off to the left hanging by its handle. The brightest star, Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star, shines at the end of the Little Dipper’s handle. Polaris is the linchpin of the sky. All of the stars appear to circle around the North Star every 24 hours, since it shines directly above the Earth’s pole.
In the northwest sky, look for the bright sideways “W” that is supposed to be the outline of Queen Cassiopeia tied up in her throne.
Over in the east look for a distinctive backward question mark that outlines the chest and head of Leo, the first of the springtime constellations. Regulus is the moderately bright star at the bottom of the question mark that sits at the lion’s heart.
As March continues Leo will get higher in the sky in the early evening, as the stars of Orion and his gang sink lower in the west.
Leo has a guest this year, the ringed planet Saturn. Just look to the lower right of the backward question mark of Leo and you’ll see a moderately bright starlike object that’s brighter than any of the stars of Leo. That’s Saturn.
Later this month the ringed wonder of our solar system will be at its closest approach to Earth for 2009, at just 781 million miles away. While that’s not exactly a weekend car trip away, it’s close for Saturn.
Saturn’s ring system spans more than 130,000 miles, but it’s only 30 to 40 miles thick, at the most. Unfortunately, from this year into next, Saturn’s beautiful ring system is nearly edge on from our vantage on Earth.
Since it’s so thin, there’s not a lot of Saturn’s rings to see, but it’s worth a gander using even a small telescope. Though the rings are less than impressive right now, you can easily see Saturn’s many moons that swarm around the planet. The biggest and brightest of the moons is Titan, about twice the size of Earth’s moon.
Again, I want to remind you that especially this time of year, you should make sure your telescope and all of the eyepieces sit outside and cool off for at least half an hour before you use it. It can make all the difference in how clearly you see things. Also, observe Saturn or any other planet for extended periods of time. The longer you look through the eyepiece the more you’ll see.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com
The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. The Web site is members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy.
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