Have you been recording the motion of Venus and Jupiter? As Venus climbed higher into the western sky over the past several weeks, the conjunction on March 1 was the point of their closest position. By the end of the month, Jupiter will have sunk into the western horizon leaving only Venus and Mars as to the unaided-eye visible planets. At full dark, Mars will still be near the zenith for a while yet, drifting westward along the ecliptic as the world rotates on its axis throughout the night.
Mars and two stars, Betelgeuse, and Aldebaran are each about the same shade of orange-y red, which makes a nice little triangle to seek. There are also several bright stars in constellations to locate when there are clear skies. Orion is nearly overhead, with ruddy Betelgeuse in his left shoulder and blazing Sirius to the lower left of Orion, at his feet. To the upper left of Sirius is Procyon, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor, or ‘hotdog’ since there are only two stars bright enough to delineate the group without optical assistance.
To the right of Orion is the V shape of the Taurus asterism which is in turn following the lovely little cluster of stars called the Pleiades or Subaru. Appearing as a faint blur, this group is sometimes assumed to be one of the Dippers due I think, to the brighter stars in the group seeming to form that kind of shape.
Directly overhead about 10 p.m. the constellation Gemini is right along the ecliptic. Pollux is the interesting star on the left, Castor on the right, marking the heads of the Roman Twins.
This week the full moon will make it more difficult to enjoy constellations; that moon is reflecting so much sunlight the night is almost bright enough to read a newspaper by it, if one had no streetlight to make that possible. A plus is that the moon will rise about an hour later each night, which means you don’t have to stay up so late. Ummm well, daylight saving IS coming. Sigh.
If you are facing east look for the kite shape of Boötes, which is emerging from the horizon by midnight. Boötes also has one of the orange-y red stars, which means it is an aging star, located at the tip of the kite.
Tuesday, March 7, the San Benito Public Library is hosting a Mars adventure for students from third- to eighth-grades from 5 to 6 p.m. There is no fee; this is not a scholarly lecture; it is a hands-on experience. Bring the kids and stay to see what is going on and perhaps you will come again next month. We will even have a couple of small meteorites from Morocco and Argentina to display.
Astronomy is getting much more attention than in the past with the many activities that are space and astronomy related connected with the South Texas Astronomical Society, the Christina Torres Memorial Observatory at Resaca de la Palma, and the Pace High School student astronomical society. Collaborating to bring fun family-oriented experiences at the Brownsville public libraries and various state parks as well, perhaps you will join one the next time. The website to see what they are doing is .
The night sky reveals its glorious treasures all for free; there is a lot to see IF you remember to KLU.
