Saturday: At 7:00 p.m. Venus is a half a fist to the upper right of the moon, about a fist and a half above the western horizon. Neptune is about a finger width to the left of Mercury at this time.
Sunday: March to-do list: 1) Move clocks ahead an hour for
daylight saving time, 2) Start Spring cleaning, 3) Discover exoplanets. Hmm.
One of these is not like the other. NASA has set up a program through which you
can learn about exoplanets, observe exoplanets, analyze their data, and submit
it to a repository for astronomers to use for their research. Exoplanets are
any planets outside our solar system. For more information about this project,
go to https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-watch/.
Monday: Antares is a fist and a half above due south at 5:45
a.m.
Tuesday: Tonight is a great night to look for the Big
Dipper. Tomorrow will be a great night to look for the Big Dipper. In fact,
every night for many centuries will be great nights to look for the Big Dipper.
But the Big Dipper’s shape slowly changes over many centuries. Tens of
thousands of years ago, it didn’t look like a dipper and tens of thousands of
years from now, it will no longer look like a dipper. For a short video
simulation of the changing Big Dipper, go to https://youtu.be/txJH8RlIoXQ. For a
look at the current Dipper, face northeast at 8:00 p.m. The lowest star,
Alkaid, is two and a half fists above the horizon.
Wednesday: Over the past two weeks, all seven planets were
visible in the evening sky. This was called a planetary conjunction. A good
planetary conjunction. On the morning of March 25, 185 BCE, there was a great
planetary conjunction. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were within
seven degrees of each other. That means they could have all fit into the cup of
the Big Dipper. Two astronomers recently identified a small piece of clay with
a cuneiform description of the conjunction. Read more about this conjunction at
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/ancient-babylonians-witnessed-unique-planetary-gathering/.
Thursday: If you ask an astrobiologist for the three most
likely places to find evidence of life in the Solar System, other than Earth,
they’d probably say Mars, Europa (“Didn’t they sing “The Final Countdown” in
the 1980?”), and Enceladus. Mars makes sense because you know scientists have
sent many probes there. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, is an up-and-coming
interest that first piqued astrobiologists’ interest a few years ago when
NASA’s Cassini probe discovered organic materials in jets of water shooting out
of it. Between the pop culture alien hot spot of Mars and the new favorite Enceladus
is Jupiter’s moon Europa. Astronomers first discovered compelling evidence of a
large water ocean on Europa in 1989 during a Galileo flyby. Over the next few
years, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will be on their way to Europa.
For a preview of the ESA JUICE mission and the NASA Europa Clipper mission, go
to https://youtu.be/dAW2uPPS2A4. At
8:00 p.m., Jupiter is five fists above the southwestern horizon and Mars is
nearly seven fists above the southern horizon. Saturn is too close to being in
line with the Sun to be visible.
Friday: The bright star Sirius is two fists above the
southwestern horizon at 10:00 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and
planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information
about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
All times are Pacific Time unless noted.
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