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<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Early March finds us in a dramatic lull as far as viewing naked-eye planets goes, with four of them being uncomfortably close to the Sun for observation. Fortunately, that fate doesn\u2019t apply to Jupiter. The giant planet remains prominent in the northern sky all evening, shining at magnitude \u20132.4 among the stars of central Gemini. Jupiter\u2019s motion relative to the Twins\u2019 backdrop is nearly imperceptible this month, as the planet reaches its stationary point March 11.<\/p>\n
At a declination of 23\u00b0, Jupiter lies about as far north as it can get, which places it relatively low in the sky for Southern Hemisphere observers. It\u2019s still worth taking a look through your telescope, however, particularly when the planet stands highest in the north in early evening. Jupiter\u2019s 41\u2033-diameter disk should show a wealth of atmospheric detail during moments of good seeing. And it\u2019s always fun tracking the movements of the four bright Galilean satellites from night to night.<\/p>\n
Before looking at Jupiter, see whether you can catch a final evening glimpse of Saturn. Although the ringed world is heading toward solar conjunction March 25, you might still spot the magnitude 1.0 object low in the west after civil twilight ends early in the month. Your odds improve if you live closer to the equator. But don\u2019t bother pointing your telescope at Saturn. Your next decent view won\u2019t come until it climbs higher in the morning sky later this autumn.<\/p>\n
Mercury reaches inferior conjunction March 7, but then sweeps rapidly into view before dawn. Although the innermost planet won\u2019t reach greatest elongation until early April, the views during the final week of March should be spectacular.<\/p>\n
On the 24th, Mercury glows at magnitude 0.8 and stands 10\u00b0 high in the east an hour before sunrise. A telescope shows the planet\u2019s 9\u2033-diameter disk, which appears 30 percent lit. By the 31st, Mercury shines at magnitude 0.4 and has gained 4\u00b0 of altitude. Its disk then measures 8\u2033 across and is 44 percent illuminated.<\/p>\n
Look for Mars some 10\u00b0 below Mercury at the end of the month. The Red Planet shines at magnitude 1.2 and will be harder to see than its companion. Don\u2019t bother with your telescope \u2014 Mars\u2019 4\u2033-diameter disk will show no detail.<\/p>\n
The end of March is also the time to look for Venus. The inner world enters the evening sky late this month but stands only 5\u00b0 high in the west 30 minutes after sunset. Shining brilliantly at magnitude \u20133.9, it should just be visible if you have an unobstructed horizon. As with Mars, a telescope adds nothing to the view.<\/p>\n
A total lunar eclipse takes place March 3. The best viewing locations in the Southern Hemisphere are the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, and Australia. The umbral phase of the eclipse begins at 9h50m UT and ends at 13h18m UT, with totality running from 11h04m to 12h03m UT.<\/p>\n
The starry sky<\/p>\n
A few months ago, I was gazing at the constellation Canis Major when it was visible in the small hours of the morning toward the east. I always enjoy looking at the stars southeast of brilliant Sirius, whose shape reminds me of a coat hanger without a hook. My thoughts wandered to considering the name of that constellation, and how so many people pronounce its first three letters as if it rhymes with \u201cman\u201d or \u201ctan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, however, I have delved into the \u201ccorrect\u201d ways to pronounce constellation names \u2014 as well as those of stars and some clusters, too. When I was little, I thought that the Beehive Cluster (M44), or Praesepe, in Cancer should be pronounced \u201cpray-seep,\u201d though I soon found out I was wrong. The correct way seems to be \u201cpree-see-pee.\u201d Even so, in H.B. Rumrill\u2019s 1936 paper published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, he suggests a pronunciation of \u201cpree-seep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s head back to the Great Dog, which conveniently passes nearly overhead on March evenings. You will find the authoritative pronunciation for the constellation\u2019s first word is \u201ccaynis,\u201d which few people use \u2014 certainly not those in Australia, anyway.<\/p>\n
Many guides to pronouncing astronomical names exist, but a favorite of mine is one published in some editions of the classic Norton\u2019s Star Atlas. Browsing through that list, you\u2019ll find many pronunciations matching what you would expect, such as Sirius. Others, not so much. Take Caelum the Chisel. It\u2019s proper to say \u201csee-lum,\u201d with the \u201ccae\u201d being pronounced the same way as the \u201cce\u201d in Cetus the Whale.<\/p>\n
I find it instructive to look through some of these lists to confirm correct pronunciations. Nearly all agree that the constellation of the River should be \u201ce-RID-a-nus.\u201d But it\u2019s not hard to uncover inconsistencies among sources. Norton\u2019s suggests, for example, that the first two letters of Monoceros the Unicorn should be pronounced like \u201cmoh,\u201d rhyming with \u201ctoe,\u201d while other sources suggest \u201cmon\u201d for the first three letters. However, they all agree that the emphasis should go on the \u201cnos.\u201d<\/p>\n
How about the southern constellation Grus the Crane? Although rhyming it with \u201ctruss\u201d sounds wrong \u2014 I have always said it as \u201cgroose\u201d \u2014 the former is listed by Norton\u2019s (though one listing suggests both are acceptable).<\/p>\n
Many names are so ancient that we may never know how people pronounced them originally, but it\u2019s still fun doing the research.<\/p>\n
Star Dome<\/p>\n
The map below portrays the sky as seen near 30\u00b0 south latitude. Located inside the border are the cardinal directions and their intermediate points. To find stars, hold the map overhead and orient it so one of the labels matches the direction you\u2019re facing. The stars above the map\u2019s horizon now match what\u2019s in the sky.<\/p>\n
The all-sky map shows how the sky looks at:<\/p>\n
10 p.m. March 1
9 p.m. March 15
8 p.m. March 31<\/p>\n
Planets are shown at midmonth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early March finds us in a dramatic lull as far as viewing naked-eye planets goes, with four of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4974,111,139,69,12839,147,80081],"class_list":["post-307683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-magazine","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-observing","tag-science","tag-sky-this-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}