The Night Sky March 2007
Compiled by Ian Morison
This page, updated monthly, will let you know some of the things that you can look out for in the night sky. It lists the phases of the Moon, where you will see the naked-eye planets and describes some of the prominent constellations in the night sky during the month.
Image of the Month
Planetary Nebula NGC2440 - click on image to download a full resolution version
Image: Hubble Heritage team. NASA-ESA Collaboration
NGC2440 - A Planetary Nebula in the southern constellation Puppis
This beautiful image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a "Planetary Nebula", so called because some appear like planetary discs in the heavens. In fact, they are the remnents of stars like our Sun whose core contracts down until it about the size of the Earth and termed a "White Dwarf". These are very hot so appear blue-white in colour. The white dwarf in the image above can be seen in the very centre of the nebula. This white dwarf is one of the hottest known with a surface temperature of ~ 200,000K. The ultraviolet light excites the gas that has been thrown off in the explosion that ended the life of the progenitor star giving us this lovely image. The nebula is over 1 light year across and lies at a distance of about 4,000 light years.
The Moon
Third Quarter Moon - by Ian Morison using a 6" Maksutov-newtonian and Canon G6 camera.
| new | first quarter | full moon | last quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 18th | Mar 26th | Mar 3rd | Mar 9th |
Some Lunar Images by Ian Morison, Jodrell Bank Observatory: Lunar Images
Highlights of the Month
March 3rd: A total Eclipse of the Moon
Image:Ian Morison - click on to enlarge.
On the night of March 3rd we will, if clear, be able to witness a total eclipse of the Moon. The diagram above gives the times of immersion into the Earth's penumbra and umbra with the mid-eclipse occuring at 23:21 UT. One might think that the Moon would become invisible, but that is not the case as light refracted through the Earth's atmosphere falls on the Moon. How bright the Moon appears and its colour depends on the amount of dust in the Earth's atmosphere. After a major volcanic event, such as the Mt St. Helens explosion in 1980, there can be so much dust in the atmosphere that little light can pass around the Earth's limb to illuminate the Moon. It thus looks a very dull dark grey. However, when, as is now, there is very little dust in the atmosphere the Moon can look a very beautiful reddish-brown colour as in Noel Munford's image below. Red light is scattered less than blue light in the atmosphere (which is why the sky is blue and the sunlight is reddened when it is near the horizon)so the light that spills around the Earth to illuminate the Moon is reddish in colour.
Image Credit and Copyright: Ian Morison, Jodrell Bank Observatory
March 2nd: Saturn is occulted by the Moon
Saturn imaged from Earth with an 11 inch telescope.
Image copyright: Damian Peach
To see more of Damian Peache's Images: Damian Peache's website
Saturn is now high in the eastern sky during the evening lying in the constellation of Leo It is at magnitude 0.0, so stands out amongst the stars - over to the left of Orion and below and to the left of Gemini.
On the 2nd of March, the day before the lunar eclipse, those on the eastern side of the UK will see a grazing occultation of Saturn. Observing from east of a line from Edinburgh, through Leeds and London down to Eastborne, Saturn will be fully occulted. Westwards from this line to a line from Glasgow through Liverpool and Bristol to Bognor Regis one should see a partially occulted planet. Sadly, to the west of this second line Saturn will just be seen to skim the limb of the Moon. A small telescope* will be best to observe the occultation with, but 10x50 binoculars may well show the event. As seen from London, the occultation will start at 02:38 UT and end at 02:53. Just prior and after these times Saturn will begin to fall behind and reappear from the Moon's limb.
* The lowest cost telescope that I would advise purchasing is the Skywatcher Explorer-130PM. This is a 5" aperture Newtonian with a driven mount.
Observe a White Dwarf
Eridanus
This is a good month to try to observe a White Dwarf star - the end state of a star like our own Sun. They are about the size of the Earth, but are very hot so can still appear reasonably bright. Omicron-2 is an orange star of magnitude 4.4 in the constellation Eridanus that lies to the right of Rigel. You will be able to pick this up with a pair of binoculars. However if you can use a small telescope with medium power you should spot a faint white 9th magnitude companion - a white dwarf. White dwarfs are very dense and a teaspoon full might weigh as much as a ton! Near the White Dwarf is an 11th magnitude "Red Dwarf" that might be spotted as well.
The Planets
A montage of the Solar System. JPL / Nasa
Jupiter
A Cassini image of Jupiter . Nasa
Jupiter, lying in the constellation Ophiuchus, is at magnitude -2 at the beginning of March, rising at ~3 am low in the south-east. as the month progresses its magnitude will rise to -2.3 and it will rise earlier - at 1am by the month end. So Jupiter will be a morning object for several months yet. Sadly, Jupiter now lies along the most southerly part of the ecliptic, and will never reach the high elevations (a maximum of +16 from London) in the sky that we have enjoyed in recent years so our views will be hindered by the atmosphere, but a small telescope will easily show the four Galilean moons as they weave from side to side. A trip to Hawaii would be just the ticket!
Saturn
The planet Saturn. Cassini - Nasa
Saturn is ideally placed to observe this month. It lies in the constellation Leo, about 7.5 degrees up and to the right of its brightest star Regulus at the start of March. It reached "opposition" on the 10th February when it was due south around midnight and closest to us but now is highest in the sky earlier in the evening. It rises in the east north-east at ~ 3:30 pm (well before Sunset) as March begins and is due south and highest in the sky at ~ 9pm. Its magnitude is ~ +0.0 and its globe subtends an angle of ~20 arc seconds. The rings are closing and are now about 13 degrees from edge-on, so Saturn is shining less brightly than during the previous few years whilst the rings have been more open. Saturn is still, however, a beautiful sight in a small telescope. A 4 to 6 inch telescope will also easily show Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and an 8 inch three or four more.
See Highlight Above
The image was taken as the Cassini spacecraft neared Saturn at the start of its exploration of the planet and its moons - particularly Titan.
Mercury
Mariner 10 composite image of Mercury. Nasa
Mercury passed in front of the Sun towards the end of February so, in March will rise before the Sun. Though it reaches elongation on the 23rd of March and 28 degrees from the Sun, its elevation will be very low making it very hard to see. Not a good month I am afraid for Mercury.
Note that the blank region in the image above is simply because this part of Mercury's surface has not yet been imaged in detail.
Mars
A Hubble Space Telescope image of Mars.
Jim Bell et al. AURA / STScI / Nasa
Mars doesn't have a good month either as it is only visible just before dawn close to the southeastern horizon. Its disk is just 4 arc seconds ascross and it shines at magnitude 1.2. We really need to wait a few months before we see it well.
Venus
Venus showing some cloud structure
Venus is now on the eastern side of the Sun, becoming visible after sunset dominating the western sky and setting a few hours after the Sun. With a magnitude of -4 it can hardly be missed! As the months progress, the phase will reduce and the angular size will increase. This has the interesting consequence that the "apparent reflecting area" stays almost constant and hence the magnitude stays very close to -4 for quite a few months. It was the fact that Venus could show almost full phases that showed Galileo that Venus must orbit the Sun and hence the Copernican theory of ther Solar system must be correct.
Radar image showing surface features
Find more planetary images and details about the Solar System: The Solar System
The Stars
The Early Evening March Sky
The March Sky in the south - early evening.
This map shows the constellations seen in the south during the early evening. The brilliant constellation of Orion is seen in the south. Moving up and to the right - following the line of the three stars of Orion's belt - brings one to Taurus; the head of the bull being outlined by the V-shaped cluster called the Hyades with its eye delineated by the orange red star Aldebaran. Further up to the right lies the Pleaides Cluster. Towards the zenith from Taurus lies the constellation Auriga, whose brightest star Capella will be nearly overhead. To the upper left of Orion lie the heavenly twins, or Gemini, their heads indicated by the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. Down to the lower left of Orion lies the brightest star in the northern sky, Sirius, in the consteallation Canis Major. Up and to the left of Sirius is Procyon in Canis Minor. Rising in the East is the constellation of Leo, the Lion, with the planet Saturn up and to the right of Regulus its brightest star. Continuing in this direction towards Gemini is the faint constellation of Cancer with its open cluster Praesepe (also called the Beehive Cluster),the 44th object in Messier's catalogue. On a dark night it is a nice object to observe with binoculars. There is also information about the constellation Ursa Major,seen in the north, in the constellation details below.
The Late Evening March Sky
The March Sky in the south - late evening.
This map shows the constellations seen in the south around midnight.
The constellation Gemini is now setting towards the south-west and Leo holds pride (sic) of place in the south with its bright star Regulus. Between Gemini and Leo lies Cancer. It is well worth observing with binoculars to see the Beehive Cluster at its heart. Below Gemini is the tiny constellation Canis Minor whose only bright star is Procyon. Rising in the south-east is the constellation Virgo whose brightest star is Spica. Though Virgo has few bright stars it is in the direction of of a great cluster of galaxies - the Virgo Cluster - which lies at the centre of the supercluster of which our local group of galaxies is an outlying member.
The constellation Gemini
Gemini
Gemini - The Twins - lies up and to the left of Orion and is in the south-west during early evenings this month. It contains two bright stars Castor and Pollux of 1.9 and 1.1 magnitudes respectivly. Castor is a close double having a separation of ~ 3.6 arc seconds making it a fine test of the quality of a small telescope - providing the atmospheric seeing is good! In fact the Castor system has 6 stars - each of the two seen in the telescope is a double star, and there is a third, 9th magnitude, companion star 73 arcseconds away which is alos a double star! Pollux is a red giant star of spectral class K0. The planet Pluto was discovered close to delta Geminorum by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The variable star shown to the lower right of delta Geminorum is a Cepheid variable, changing its brightness from 3.6 to 4.2 magnitudes with a period of 10.15 days
M35 and NGC 2158
This wonderful image was taken by Fritz Benedict and David Chappell using a 30" telescope at McDonal Observatory. Randy Whited combined the three colour CCD images to make the picture
M35 is an open star cluster comprising several hundred stars around a hundred of which are brighter than magnitude 13 and so will be seen under dark skies with a relativly small telescope. It is easily spotted with binoculars close to the "foot" of the upper right twin. A small telescope at low power using a wide field eyepiece will show it at its best. Those using larger telescopes - say 8 to 10 inches - will spot a smaller compact cluster NGC 2158 close by. NGC 2158 is four times more distant that M35 and ten times older, so the hotter blue stars will have reached the end of their lives leaving only the longer-lived yellow stars like our Sun to dominate its light.
The Eskimo Nebula, NGC2392, Hubble Space Telescope
To the lower right of the constellation lies the Planetary Nebula NGC2392. As the Hubble Space Telescope image shows, it resembles a head surrounded by the fur collar of a parka hood - hence its other name The Eskimo Nebula. The white dwarf remnant is seen at the centre of the "head". The Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1787. It lies about 5000 light years away from us.
The constellation Leo
Leo
The constellation Leo is now in the south-eastern sky in the evening. One of the few constellations that genuinely resembles its name, it looks likes one of the Lions in Trafalger Square, with its main and head forming an arc (called the Sickle) to the upper right, with Regulus in the position of its right knee. Regulus is a blue-white star, five times bigger than the sun at a distance of 90 light years. It shines at magnitude 1.4. Algieba, which forms the base of the neck, is the second brightest star in Leo at magnitude 1.9. With a telescope it resolves into one of the most magnificent double stars in the sky - a pair of golden yellow stars! They orbit their common centre of gravity every 600 years. This lovely pair of orange giants are 170 light years away.
Leo also hosts two pairs of Messier galaxies which lie beneath its belly. The first pair lie about 9 degrees to the west of Regulus and comprise M95 (to the east) and M96. They are almost exactly at the same declination as Regulus so, using an equatorial mount, centre on Regulus, lock the declination axis and sweep towards the west 9 degrees. They are both close to 9th magnitude and may bee seen together with a telescope at low power or individually at higher powers. M65 is a type Sa spiral lying at a distance of 35 millin klight years and M66, considerably bigger than M65, is of type Sb. Type Sa spirals have large nuclei and very tightly wound spiral arms whilst as one moves through type Sb to Sc, the nucleus becomes smaller and the arms more open.
The galaxies M65 and M66
M65 - Type Sa spiral, 9.3 magnitude M66 - Type Sb spiral, 8.9 magnitude
The second pair of galaxies, M95 and M96, lie a further 7 degrees to the west between the stars Upsilon and Iota Leonis. M95 is a barred spiral of type SBb. It lies at a distance of 38 million light years and is magnitude 9.7. M96, a type Sa galaxy, is slightly further away at 41 million light years, but a little brighter with a magnitude of 9.2. Both are members of the Leo I group of galaxies and are visible together with a telescope at low power.
The galaxies M95 and M96
M95 - Type SBb spiral, 9.7 magnitude M96 - Type Sa spiral, 9.2 magnitude
There is a further ~9th magnitude galaxy in Leo which, surprisingly, is in neither the Messier or Caldwell catalogues. It lies a little below lambda Leonis and was discovered by William Herschel. No 2903 in the New General Catalogue, it is a beautiful type Sb galaxy which is seen at somewhat of an oblique angle. It lies at a distance of 20.5 million light years.
The 8.9th magnitude, type Sb, Galaxy NGC2903
The constellation Virgo
Virgo
Virgo, rising in the east in late evening this month, is not one of the most prominent constellations, containing only one bright star, Spica, but is one of the largest and is very rewarding for those with "rich field" telescopes capable of seeing the many galaxies that lie within its boundaries. Spica is, in fact, an exceedingly close double star with the two B type stars orbiting each other every 4 days. Their total luminosity is 2000 times that of our Sun. In the upper right hand quadrant of Virgo lies the centre of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. There are 13 galaxies in the Messier catalogue in this region, all of which can be seen with a small telescope. The brightest is the giant elliptical galaxy, M87, with a jet extending from its centre where there is almost certainly a massive black hole into which dust and gas are falling. This releases great amounts of energy which powers particles to reach speeds close to the speed of light forming the jet we see. M87 is also called VIRGO A as it is a very strong radio source.
The Giant Elliptical Galaxy M87 HST image showing the jet
Below Porrima and to the right of Spica lies M104, an 8th magnitude spiral galaxy about 30 million light years away from us. Its spiral arms are edge on to us so in a small telescope it appears as an elliptical galaxy. It is also known as the Sombrero Galaxy as it looks like a wide brimmed hat in long exposure photographs.
M104 - The Sombrero Galaxy
The constellation Ursa Major
Ursa Major
The stars of the Plough, shown linked by the thicker lines in the chart above, form one of the most recognised star patterns in the sky. Also called the Big Dipper, after the soup ladles used by farmer's wives in America to serve soup to the farm workers at lunchtime, it forms part of the Great Bear constellation - not quite so easy to make out! The stars Merak and Dubhe form the pointers which will lead you to the Pole Star, and hence find North. The stars Alcor and Mizar form a naked eye double which repays observation in a small telescope as Mizar is then shown to be an easily resolved double star. A fainter reddish star forms a triangle with Alcor and Mizar.
Ursa Major contains many interesting "deep sky" objects. The brightest, listed in Messier's Catalogue, are shown on the chart, but there are many fainter galaxies in the region too. In the upper right of the constellation are a pair of interacting galaxies M81 and M82 shown in the image below. M82 is undergoing a major burst of star formation and hence called a "starburst galaxy". They can be seen together using a low power eyepiece on a small telescope.
M81 and M82
Another, and very beautiful, galaxy is M101 which looks rather like a pinwheel firework, hence its other name the Pinwheel Galaxy. It was discovered in1781 and was a late entry to Messier's calalogue of nebulous objects. It is a type Sc spiral galaxy seen face on which is at a distance of about 24 million light years. Type Sc galaxies have a relativly small nucleus and open spiral arms. With an overall diameter of 170,000 light it is one of the largest spirals known (the Milky Way has a diameter of ~ 130,000 light years).
M101 - The Ursa Major Pinwheel Galaxy
Though just outside the constellation boundary, M51 lies close to Alkaid, the leftmost star of the Plough. Also called the Whirlpool Galaxy it is being deformed by the passage of the smaller galaxy on the left. This is now gravitationally captured by M51 and the two will eventually merge. M51 lies at a distance of about 37 million light years and was the first galaxy in which spiral arms were seen. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1773 and the spiral structure was observed by Lord Rosse in 1845 using the 72" reflector at Birr Castle in Ireland - for many years the largest telescope in the world.
M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
Lying close to Merak is the planetary nebula M97 which is usually called the Owl Nebula due to its resemblance to an owl's face with two large eyes. It was first called this by Lord Rosse who drew it in 1848 - as shown in the image below right. Planetary nebulae ar the remnants of stars similar in size to our Sun. When all possible nuclear fusion processes are complete, the central core collpses down into a "white dwarf" star and the the outer parts of the star are blown off to form the surrounding nebula.
M97 - The Owl Planetary Nebula Lord Rosse's 1848 drawing of the Owl Nebula
