Section updated: Feb. 25th, 2025.
There are a variety of events coming up for the month of March.
Aria Rudnick, I am very glad to be a source of inspiration to you with your frequent visits to our Observation sessions and thank you for mentioning the FAU Astronomical Observatory in your TEDx talk about your passion and quest to unite the arts with science! I also feel that people can learn science better when presented in a story-like setting, especially when it includes its historical background. To learn more about Aria’s vision and hear her talk, use this link:
The Stage Is My Lab: Using Theatre To Share True Science | Aria Rudnick | TEDxNBPS Youth
When we look up in the winter night sky, we are looking at the outer Milky Way Galaxy. So, it is chock full of interesting things to see, such as the distant "intergalactic wandering" globular cluster (NGC 2419), the " UFO Galaxy " (NGC 2683), Castor (a triple binary star system) and Pollux (the closest red giant star to us), the " Eskimo Nebula " (NGC 2392), " Cluster 37 " (NGC 2169), the complex Xmas Tree OC & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264), the open cluster NGC 2244 seen through the Rosette Nebula, Orion's Running Man (NGC 1977) and Great Nebulae (M42), the triple dividing open cluster M48 , the " Spirograph Nebula " (IC418), Messier's Lost Cluster (M47), Caroline's Cluster (NGC 2360), the Butterfly Cluster (M93), the Tau Canis Major Cluster (NGC 2362), the syzygy of the 2 open clusters in NGC 2451 , and one of the best open clusters in the sky: NGC 2477 .
Of our solar system, our Moon will be in a waxing gibbous phase between the constellations of Gemini and Auriga . We will look for the Elysium & Utopia Planitia to the Syrtis Major Planum of Mars , which are locations of active exploration by NASA’s rovers. Jupiter and Uranus and their moons will appear in Taurus .
Note: Daylight Shifty Time begins on March 9th. So, what was 7 pm the prior week now shifts to 8 pm.
Our Moon will enter into our planet’s penumbral shadow just as the day of March 14th officially starts at 12:00 am DST. It will completely be in the penumbra 56 minutes later at 1:06 am. Then it will contact the umbral shadow 5 minutes later and plunge to its deepest/darkest point in the eclipse at 2:56 am. Then it progresses on to leave the umbra at 3:31 am, be completely in the penumbra at 4:48 am and begin to exit it at 4:53 am. The Moon will have completely emerged from the Earth’s penumbral shadow at 5:58 am. An almost 6 hour passage through our shadow!
IF you are willing to stay up to see the awesome event, do note that you will be participating in an observation that Pythagoras himself (the very same guy that was famous for his right triangle equation of: a² + b² = c²) did his whole life. He looked for the shape of the Earth’s shadow as the Moon crossed into it and out of it. He noticed, 25 centuries ago, that our shadow was always round, even if the eclipse appeared overhead or near the horizon. Eclipses can take a few hours to occur. During which time, the Earth rotates up to 45° on its axis, and yet its shadow remains round. So, in any direction the Earth’s shadow is cast outwards to space, it is always round. The ONLY geometrical shape that always casts a round shadow, no matter which way it is oriented, IS A SPHERE. Thus, lunar eclipses are how you can prove to yourself that the planet you walk upon every day of your life, the Earth itself, is a sphere.
While the deep space objects will still be available as they were on the 7th, the solar system objects will change. We will first look at the Tharsis bulge of the planet Mars as the night begins and the planet rotate to show its Elysium Planitia by midnight. If we want to go for a challenge, we could try to see its moon Phobos cross it from 9:15 pm until 9:50 pm. But the real celestial waltz takes place around Jupiter for the night. It starts with its Great Red Spot front and center. From the planet’s west, Ganymede will transit across Jupiter from 9:34 pm until 12:03 am. And Europa does the same from 10:20 pm until 12:52 am. Their shadows won’t begin to appear on the planet until 12:48 am and 2:47 am, respectively. While from Jupiter’s east, Io begins to be occulted by the planet at 10:50 pm and will take 4 minutes to completely become hidden. Unfortunately, the building’s design will block some of the later events.
Saturn’s spin axis is tilted 26.73° with respect to the ecliptic orbital plane. This means that twice in its 29.45 year orbit, the geometric plane of its rings points directly at us. Its perfect alignment will be on the 23rd at 2:27 pm, but it will be broad daylight then. We get near the plane again in late November, but we won’t actually cross it as the planet will have moved forward enough for the plane to miss us. So, for a brief chance to see a practically ringless Saturn, we will open the dome up for quick peaks that morning before dawn, from 7:00 am until 7:30 am to see it before the Sun’s daylight fills the sky and washes it out.
In case anyone local was interested, there will be a partial solar eclipse to be seen by people from northwest Africa, through Europe and on to Russia. So, if you wish to go and see it, now you know!
