The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of March 18, 2023

Saturday: Many artists have sung the song “Blue Moon”. But few have sung the song “Blue Planet”. It goes, in part “Blue Planet, you saw me standing with 27 others. Rolling around like a barrel. Without close sisters or brothers.” It’s about the planet Uranus, which orbits the Sun in a rolling motion and has 27 moons. Every one of Uranus’ moons is named after characters in works by William  Shakespeare or Alexander Pope. Uranus is three fists held upright and at arms length above the western at 8:30 p.m., easily visible with binoculars. First find Venus, the bright point of light two fists above due west. Move your binoculars to the upper left about two binocular fields of view until you see a small trapezoid consisting of four points of light of similar brightness. The uppermost point of light is Uranus. Return to this same spot for the next few nights. If the point you are looking at moves compared to the neighboring points of light, you are looking at Uranus.

Sunday: The thin waning crescent moon is one fist above the southeastern horizon at 8:00 a.m. Saturn is a half a fist to the upper left of the moon. Wait a minute. You’re asking, “Can I see Saturn while the Sun is up?” Yes, you can. First find the moon with binoculars. With the moon in the lower right portion of your field of view, Saturn will be in the upper left. It would be very difficult to see Saturn without binoculars. But you can try.

Monday: Look up in the sky. It’s a plane. It’s a bird. No, it’s the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox!? Spring starts at 2:20 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The first day of spring is often called the vernal equinox. This label for the day is misleading. The vernal equinox is actually the point in the sky where the Sun’s apparent path with respect to the background stars (called the ecliptic) crosses the line that divides the stars into northern and southern celestial hemispheres (called the celestial equator). This point is in the constellation Pisces the fishes. At the vernal equinox, the Sun is moving from the southern region of background stars to the northern region. 

Because the Earth slowly wobbles like a spinning top, the vernal equinox is slowly moving into the constellation Aquarius. By the year 2597, the vernal equinox will reach the constellation Aquarius and the “Age of Aquarius” will begin. Until then, we’ll be in “the age of Pisces”.

Tuesday: If you want to put somebody off, tell her or him to wait until Deneb sets. At Ellensburg’s latitude of 47 degrees, Deneb is a circumpolar star meaning it never goes below the horizon. At 9:35 p.m., it will be as close as it gets to the horizon, about two degrees above due north. Watch it reach this due north position about 4 minutes earlier each night.

Wednesday: Jupiter is less than a half a fist to the lower right of the moon, low in the western sky at 8:00 p.m. People in northern South America can observe an occultation, in which the moon moves between the Earth and Jupiter in the sky.

Thursday: Venus is about a half a fist to the upper left of the moon, low in the western sky at 8:00 p.m. People in  parts of Asia and Africa can observe an occultation, in which the moon moves between the Earth and Venus in the sky.

Friday: If you know exactly where to look in the sky, you can see a few bright planets when the Sun is out. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, is always watching the sky when the Sun is out… because it is always watching the Sun! Most of the SOHO images are filtered images of the Sun’s photosphere, the top of the visible layer. But two images, the LASCO C2 and C3, place a mask over the Sun in order to observe the Sun’s corona as well as solar system objects that pass near the Sun. For the next few days, Venus passes right below the Sun and is visible in one or both of the LASCO images. It is the bright spot with the long streak on either side due to overexposure. For more about using SOHO to observe Solar System objects, go to https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/planets-and-comets-cant-hide-from-sohos-eye/.

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.