Skywatch Line for Friday, February 28, through Sunday, March 2, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, February 28, through Sunday, March 2, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:32am and sets at 5:44pm; Moon rises at 6:57am and sets at 6:46pm.
The Moon will reach perigee, its closest point to us in its elliptical orbit around Earth, on Saturday, when it’s 224,914 miles away.
You can see 4 planets in the evening sky in early March. They will lie along the path the Sun travels in daytime. First, look for Venus and Mercury about 40 minutes after sunset. Then as darkness falls, look for bright Jupiter high overhead and reddish Mars high in the eastern sky. Venus and Mercury set soon after sunset, but you can catch Jupiter and Mars until after midnight.
On Friday evening, the slender waxing crescent Moon will float above the western horizon, about 30-40 minutes after sunset. Far above it, Venus glows brightly. Mercury sits 16° below Venus, or about a fist and a half at arm’s length. Mercury is now bright at about magnitude –1.2, but binoculars will still help when it’s low in bright twilight. It will get a little higher each evening. Mercury is heading into a fine showing next week.
Shortly after sunset on Sunday, the thin waxing crescent Moon will lie above brilliant Venus and the much dimmer Mercury. Venus will soon be slipping away, moving to the morning sky. Mercury will reach its greatest distance from the Sun on March 7-8.
Venus, magnitude –4.8 in the constellation of Pisces, is getting lower now day by day, and at an increasing pace. It sets hardly more than an hour after dark. In a telescope, Venus displays a crescent about 20% sunlit and 46 arcseconds from pole to pole.
View Mars, about magnitude –0.4 in the constellation of Gemini, in twilight as a steady orange spark, very high in the southeast. It continues to fade week by week as it shrinks into the distance. As darkness deepens, watch for fainter Pollux and Castor to emerge left of it.
Jupiter shines bright white, magnitude –2.4 in the constellation of Taurus, 35° west along the ecliptic from Mars. It dominates the high southwest after dusk near Aldebaran and the Pleiades. Jupiter still makes a right triangle with them. Later in the evening they move lower toward the west. Jupiter sets in the west-northwest around 1:00am.
Look east after dark for the constellation Leo climbing up in the sky. Locate Leo’s brightest star, Regulus. The Sickle of Leo, about a fist and a half long, extends upper left from there. It’s shaped like a backward question mark. Leo’s rear quarters and tail are a fist or so to the Sickle’s lower left.