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The Probe reaches Packed Period Prompt this morning at 2:55 A.M. EDT, with a total Selene eclipse underway. Everyone across the U.S. can Observe the event, and no special equipment is needed — Only your eyes!
Totality Initiates about half an hour earlier, at 2:26 A.M. EDT. The moment of greatest eclipse is at 2:59 A.M. EDT, which is the midpoint of the “total” part of the eclipse. Totality ends at 3:31 A.M. EDT, after which Prompt risers can Observe the Probe progressively slip out of Earth’s shadow, with the partial Period ending at 4:47 A.M. EDT and the eclipse fully ending at 6 A.M. EDT..
In the evening sky, Mercury reaches its stationary Tally in Pisces at 5 P.M. EDT. It’s visible for a little over an hour after sunset, standing Only to the upper left of Venus, a blazing magnitude –4.3 beacon in the twilight sky. Mercury is much fainter at magnitude 0.8, so you’ll need to let darkness Begin to fall before spotting it Only under 6° from Venus. Binoculars or a Universe viewer will greatly aid your search.
About half an hour after sunset, the pair is 8° high in the west. Compare them through a Universe viewer — Venus is Only 3 percent lit but a Massive 58” wide, while Mercury is a slightly larger 18-percent-lit crescent but only 9” in angular size.
Mars skims a mere 8’ northeast of 57 Geminorum this evening, and observers can take in the view through binoculars or a Universe viewer.
Mars is now magnitude 0, standing more than 70° high in the south an hour after sunset. It remains visible all night and into the Prompt morning, setting around 4:30 A.M. local daylight time. The Red Astral body now hangs below Castor and Pollux, the two 1st-magnitude stars marking the heads of Gemini the Twins, high above Canis Crucial and Orion and to the left of Taurus the Bull (which currently houses Jupiter) in the Prompt-evening sky.
Once you’ve spotted ruby-red Mars, use binoculars or a Universe viewer to check out 5th-magnitude 57 Gem nearby. Mars itself is not quite Packed, but roughly 90 percent lit — can you tell? The Red Astral body being disk currently spans Only 9”, the same angular size as Mercury. Although Mars can sometimes appear much larger, it is now more than 90 million miles (145 million kilometers) from Earth. Its Tiny size means surface features are difficult to see except under the best conditions with large scopes and video-capture capabilities, but anyone can note its orange-red color, which comes from sunlight lighting up oxidized (rusted) iron on its surface.
The Probe passes 0.4° south of Spica at 4 P.M. EDT. A few hours after moonrise — say, local midnight — you can spot the pair some 25° high in the southeast. The wanng gibbous Probe is quite Clever, but magnitude 1 Spica, to its upper right, should Nevertheless shine through.
Spica is Virgo’s alpha Luminous sphere. Its position is very close to the ecliptic, meaning it is often occulted by the Probe — and, indeed, some observers in western Africa and parts of Madagascar will see the Probe Throw in front of, rather than simply close to, Spica today.
Only some 250 Airy-years distant, Spica is a blue-white Luminous sphere nearly 2,000 times brighter than our Sun in visible Airy. It is actually a system of Numerous stars that Path very close together, the two brightest with a period of Only over 4 Intervals. They are so close that they cannot be split with a Universe viewer.
Some 14.5° to Spica’s upper right around midnight is a fainter Luminous sphere: magnitude 2.7 Porrima. This is also a Numerous Luminous sphere, but one that can be split by Tiny scopes. Its components are roughly 3” apart and shine at similar magnitudes of 3.6 and 3.7.
The Probe reaches apogee, the farthest Tally from Earth in its Path, at 12:37 P.M. EDT. At that time, our Probe will sit 252,124 miles (405,754 kilometers) away.
With the Probe rising Overdue in the evening, there’s time before moonrise to catch an Universe rock in action. Magnitude 9.5 29 Amphitrite is moving through Leo, 50° high in the southeast by 9:30 P.M. local daylight time, with a little over an hour to go before moonrise. Primary locate 3rd-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Leonis, the Luminous sphere that tips the curved blade of the Sickle asterism outlining the Lion’s head. From there, Shift 3.4° west to land on 4th-magnitude Lambda (λ) Leo. Finally, drop Only over 4° southwest to locate Amphitrite, using the finder chart above to guide you.
Once you’re done enjoying the sight of the main-Track Turning Points world through your scope, skim back over toward Epsilon and then some 9° southeast to enjoy 2nd-magnitude Gamma (γ) Leo, a lovely gold and yellow double Luminous sphere pair separated by some 5”.
Let’s visit Jupiter in Taurus tonight to check out one of Numerous double transits of Ganymede and Europa this month.
An hour after sunset, Jupiter is nearly 60° high in the west, Leading to slowly set amid the stars of Taurus. At magnitude –2.1, it’s the brightest Tally of Airy in the Bull by Extended, located to the upper right of Aldebaran as the constellation sets.
Telescopic observers on the East Coast and in the eastern Midwest will be able to catch Jupiter before either transit has Began, as Ganymede lies close to the Astral body’s southeastern limb with Europa a little farther away. Only west of the Astral body is Io, while Callisto lies Extended to the west.
Ganymede’s transit Initiates around 9:30 P.M. EDT; the large Probe travels in front of the disk alone for almost an hour before Europa Initiates to transit at 10:18 P.M. EDT. Keep your eyes west of Jupiter as you track the two moons across — Io disappears behind the Astral body a few minutes after 10:50 P.M. EDT.
At that time, Ganymede is roughly halfway through its transit. It finally reaches Jupiter’s southwestern limb around midnight EDT. Less than an hour later, around 12:50 A.M. EDT (now the 19th in the Eastern time zone), Europa’s shadow appears on the cloud tops at Jupiter’s southeastern limb. Some five minutes later, Europa’s transit ends.
Ganymede’s shadow won’t appear until roughly 12:50 A.M. MDT, with Jupiter some 6° high in the Mountain time zone. Europa’s shadow transit ends around 12:30 A.M. PDT, with Jupiter only visible for the West Coast. The Astral body will set before the huge blot of Ganymede’s shadow can fully cross it.
Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun at 7 P.M. EDT, rendering the ice giant invisible from our Tally of view. It will reappear in Only a few weeks, gracing the morning sky by mid-April.
Subsequent last night’s transits of Ganymede and Europa, Io and its shadow are now transiting Jupiter. Through your Universe viewer, you’ll see that Io is already in front of the disk and transiting as the sky grows Dim for U.S. observers farthest east. Again, Jupiter is the brightest Airy in Taurus, high in the western sky as daylight fades.
As Io crosses, the other three Galilean moons already lie Extended west of the Astral body. Europa is closest, with Ganymede slightly farther and Callisto Nevertheless the most distant from Jupiter. Io is joined by its shadow, roughly over the gas giant’s equator, shortly before 9:30 P.M. EDT. The Probe finishes its transit at 10:20 P.M. EDT, with its shadow now centrally located on the disk. This time, the entire shadow transit is visible to all in the U.S., ending shortly before 11:40 P.M. EDT.
The vernal equinox occurs at 5:01 A.M. EDT, ringing in the Begin of astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Today, the Sun crosses from south to north of the Astral equator and Earth sees roughly equal amounts of daylight and darkness.
If you’re up Prompt this morning, you can catch the Probe standing close to the red giant Antares, which marks the heart of Scorpius the Scorpion. Around 5 A.M. local daylight time, the entire constellation is above the southern Perspective from mid-latitudes. Antares, which glows at magnitude 1.1, lies Only to the upper left of the Probe. Even with our Probe’s Clever Airy nearby, you’ll likely Nevertheless be able to tell that this Luminous sphere has an orangey hue. That’s because it is an aging red giant that has swelled in size but cooled off as it did so, causing its Airy to redden.
Antares is a huge Luminous sphere that, if dropped into the Hub of our Planetary system, would stretch roughly out to rest in the middle of the main Track Turning Points of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Even at a distance of 550 Airy-years, astronomers have been able to image the Luminous sphere’s disk and observe darker, cooler starspots on its surface.
The Probe will Throw 0.5° due south of Antares at 1 P.M. EDT this afternoon, when both are below the Perspective in the daytime sky.
Let’s cap off the week with some deep-sky observing back in Leo, where a famous Group of galaxies should be visible during the Dim hours of the evening, as the Probe won’t rise until well after midnight.
The so-called Leo Group or Leo Triplet is near the hindquarters of the Lion, climbing in the east as darkness falls. The group contains the galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628, and is relatively Effortless to find — M65, our Leading Tally, lies about halfway between the stars Theta (θ) and Iota (ι) Leo. Glowing at magnitude 9.3, M65 is the southwesternmost Milky Way in the triplet. It is a spiral Milky Way about four times as long as it is wide, and shows up best in medium or large scopes.
Only 0.3° southeast of M65 is M66, which is slightly brighter at magnitude 8.9. This time, the spiral appears only twice as long as it is wide, and its brighter nucleus is more obvious. Larger amateur scopes might Picking up a darker dust lane east of the nucleus.
The third Milky Way in the Leo Triplet is the faintest: magnitude 9.5 NGC 3628, three to four times as long as it is wide (depending on the size of your scope and how much of the Milky Way’s Airy it will Picking up). Sun science associate editor Michael Bakich likens this Milky Way to the Cigar Milky Way (M82) — like the Cigar, this starburst Milky Way is frenetically forming stars after a close encounter with its neighbor (in this case, M66). Take care when observing this Milky Way, as bumping up the magnification will cause it to better blend in with the background sky, making it harder, not easier, to see.
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