Calendar

Here is a listing of upcoming events and activities that the Hamilton Chapter of the RASC will be conducting. If you are interested in Astronomy, come check us out or contact us for more details!

Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).

March 2024

Thursday, March 14 – Crescent Moon Passes the Pleiades (evening)

Once the sky darkens on Thursday evening, March 14, the bright little cluster of stars named the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, and Messier 45 will be visible sparkling several finger widths above (or 3 degrees to the celestial northeast) of the waxing crescent moon. By the time they set shortly after midnight, the moon will have shifted to the lower edge of the cluster. To better see the Pleiades’ stars, hide the moon beyond the edge of your binoculars’ field of view (orange circle). Large aperture telescopes and long exposure photos can reveal faint blue nebulosity surrounding the cluster’s brighter stars – but not while the moon is nearby. In Greek mythology, the stars are named for the daughters of Atlas and Pleione.

Friday, March 15 – Lunar Libration Shows Elusive Mare Australe (evening)         

Due to the moon’s orbital inclination and ellipticity, it nods up-and-down and sways left-to-right by up to 7 degrees while keeping the same hemisphere pointed towards Earth. Over time, this lunar libration effect lets us see 59% of the moon’s total surface without leaving the Earth. For several nights surrounding Friday, March 15, the moon’s brightly lit southeastern limb will be rotated toward Earth, revealing a collection of dark patches that can be seen in a backyard telescope. Together they comprise Mare Australe, the Southern Sea. The northern and southern boundaries of the mare are dominated by the isolated dark ovals of the craters Oken and Hanno, respectively. Between them, look for the similar dark craters Brisbane Z and E and the large, lighter grey crater Lyot. The prominent scar of Vallis Rheita can guide you. As the moon descends the western sky during evening, Mare Australe will be on the moon’s bottom edge. )

Saturday, March 16 – Sirius Sparkles like a Diamond (evening)

In mid-March, the night sky’s brightest star, Sirius, or Alpha Canis Majoris, reaches its highest point over the southern horizon at around 8 p.m. local time. Sirius is a hot, white, A-class star. Its location only 8.6 light-years from Earth is part of the reason for its brilliance. For mid-northern latitude observers, Sirius always shines in the lower third of the sky, and therefore through a thicker blanket of Earth’s refracting atmosphere. This causes the strong twinkling and flashes of color the Dog Star is known for.

Sunday, March 17 – First Quarter Moon (at 04:11 GMT)

The moon will complete the first quarter of its orbit around Earth, measuring from the previous new moon, at 12:11 a.m. EDT or 04:11 GMT on Sunday, March 17. (That converts to 8:11 p.m. PDT on Saturday evening, March 16.) At first quarter, the 90 degree angle formed by the Earth, sun, and moon will cause us to see our natural satellite as a half-moon with its eastern hemisphere illuminated. At this part of the lunar cycle, the moon always rises around noon and sets around midnight, allowing it to be seen in the afternoon daytime sky, too. The evenings surrounding first quarter are the best ones for viewing the lunar terrain when it is dramatically lit by low-angled sunlight.

Monday, March 18 – The Moon Between the Twins (all night)

Once the stars appear after dusk on Monday, March 18, the bright, waxing gibbous moon will shine high in the southern sky within the heart of Gemini. That constellation’s brightest stars, golden Pollux and brighter, whiter Castor above it should still be visible against the moon’s glare. Binoculars (orange circle) will reveal a handful of smaller stars above the moon, marking where the brothers are grasping hands. As the night wears on, the moon’s orbital motion will carry it towards Pollux, while the diurnal rotation of the sky shifts the constellation to the moon’s right (or celestial northwest).

Tuesday, March 19 – March Equinox (at 11:06 p.m. EDT)

On Tuesday, March 19 at 11:06 p.m. EDT or 8:06 p.m. PDT (and 03:06 GMT on Wednesday) the sun will cross the celestial equator traveling north, marking the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of northern spring. Days and nights will be of equal length on that day, and the sun will rise due east and set due west. At mid-northern latitudes on the March equinox, the amount of daylight added to each day peaks at 3 minutes.

Thursday, March 21- Venus Kisses Saturn (pre-dawn)

Skywatchers located in the southern USA and other tropical latitudes can see Venus kiss Saturn in a very close dawn planetary conjunction on Thursday morning, March 21. The two planets will be close enough to share the view in a backyard telescope on Thursday and Friday, and in binoculars (orange circle) for about five days on either side of that date – but the views of them will be hampered by the thick blanket of air they will be shining through. Be sure to turn all optics away from the horizon before sunrise. On Thursday, Saturn will be positioned less than a finger’s width below Venus. On Friday, it will shift to Venus’ right. For the latitude of Miami, the optimal viewing time will arrive around 7 a.m. local time. Mars will shine off to their upper right.

Friday, March 22 – The Aristarchus Plateau (all night)

Three prominent craters break up the expanse of Oceanus Procellarum, the broad dark region on the left-hand (western) half of the moon. Large Copernicus is the easternmost crater. Its extensive, ragged ray system intermingles with that of smaller Kepler to its southwest. The very bright crater Aristarchus positioned to the lunar northwest of them occupies the corner of a diamond-shaped plateau that is one of the most colorful regions on the moon. NASA orbiters have detected high levels of radioactive radon there. Use a telescope and high magnification to view features like the large, sinuous rille named Vallis Schröteri. Its snake-like form begins between Aristarchus and next-door Herodotus and meanders across the plateau.

Sunday, March 24 – Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation (after sunset)

On the evening of Sunday, March 24, Mercury (orbit shown as red curve) will reach its widest separation of 18.7 degrees east of the Sun for its current apparition. With the speedy planet sitting above a nearly vertical evening ecliptic (green line), this will be Northern Hemisphere observers’ best appearance of the planet in 2024. The optimal viewing times at mid-northern latitudes will begin around 7:30 p.m. local time. Viewed in a telescope (inset) the planet will exhibit a waning half-illuminated phase. Mercury will be easy to see for about a week on either side of Sunday. Brighter Jupiter will shine well above the planet.

Monday, March 25 – Full Crow Moon Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (at 0700 GMT)

The moon will reach its full phase on Monday, March 25 at 3:00 a.m. EDT, 12:00 a.m. PDT, or 07:00 GMT. The March full moon, known as the Worm Moon, Crow Moon, Sap Moon or Lenten Moon, always shines in or near the stars of Leo or Virgo. The indigenous Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes region call this full moon Ziissbaakdoke-giizis “Sugar Moon” or Onaabani-giizis, the “Hard Crust on the Snow Moon”. For them it signifies a time to balance their lives and to celebrate the new year. The Cree of North America call it Mikisiwipisim, the “the Eagle Moon” – the month when the eagle returns. The Cherokee call it Anvyi, the “Windy Moon”, when the planting cycle begins anew. This full moon will pass through the northern portion of the Earth’s penumbral shadow, slightly darkening the moon in a penumbral lunar eclipse visible in the Americas. The lower (southern) rim of the full moon will start its trip through the shadow at 12:53 a.m. EDT (04:53 GMT). At maximum eclipse at 3:14 a.m. EDT (07:14 GMT) 96% of the moon will be immersed. The moon will slide fully clear of the penumbra at 5:33 a.m. EDT (09:33 GMT). A detectable darkening of the moon is only expected to be apparent between 2:30 and 4 a.m. EDT (06:30 to 08:00 GMT). This lunar eclipse will be followed two weeks later by the total solar eclipse on April 8.

Wednesday, March 27 – Evening Zodiacal Light (after dusk)

If you live in a location where the sky is free of light pollution, you might be able to spot the Zodiacal Light during the two weeks that precede the new moon on April 8. Starting on Wednesday, March 27, after the evening twilight has faded, you’ll have about half an hour to check the western sky for a broad wedge of faint light extending upwards from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic around the planet Jupiter. That glow is the zodiacal light – sunlight scattered from countless small particles of material that populate the plane of our solar system. Don’t confuse it with the brighter Milky Way, which extends upwards from the northwestern horizon in evening at this time of year.

Saturday, March 30 – Bright Moon Approaches Antares (pre-dawn) When the waning gibbous moon rises in the southeast after midnight on Saturday morning, March 30, it will be perched to the upper right of Scorpius’ brightest star, red Antares. As the hours pass, the moon will slide closer to the star and the diurnal rotation of the sky will lift the star to the moon’s left. By dawn the pair will shine low in the southwestern sky. Skywatchers in more westerly time zones will see the moon even closer to Antares and observers in northeastern Melanesia and most of Polynesia can watch the moon occult Antares around 5 a.m

April 2024

April 4 – Monthly Club Meeting (Guests welcome)

Monday April 8 – Total Solar Eclipse in Hamilton

May 2024

May 2 – Monthly Club Meeting (Guests welcome)

June 2024

June 6 – Monthly Club Meeting (Guests welcome)

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