Skywatch Line for Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30, written by Sam Salem
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, March 28, through Sunday, March 30, written by Sam Salem.
On Friday, Sun rises at 6:44am and sets at 7:17pm; Moon rises at 6:20am and sets at 6:35pm.
On Saturday, a partial eclipse of the Sun happens for northeastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, and most of Europe. For most the northeastern US, the eclipse will already be under way at sunrise. The deepest part of the eclipse will happen before sunrise for most of us in North America. In Schenectady, the partial eclipse starts and reaches its maximum on Saturday before sunrise. It starts at 5:26am and reaches it maximum at 6:16am. Sun rises at 6:42am. Partial eclipse ends at 7:08am. The last trace of the eclipse ends when the Sun is still a few degrees above the east horizon.
Mercury and Venus are out of sight in the glare of the Sun. They are at inferior conjunction. Saturn and Neptune, like Mercury and Venus, are hidden in the glare of the Sun.
Mars, at magnitude +0.2 near the heads of Gemini, comes into view in twilight as a steady orange spark very high toward the south, almost overhead. It continues to fade as it shrinks into the distance. As darkness deepens, watch for fainter Pollux and Castor to emerge near it. The triangle that the three make is changing faster now, as Mars appears to accelerate away from the end of its retrograde loop. Mars has shrunk to 8½ arcseconds in diameter and is plainly gibbous.
Jupiter shines bright white, at magnitude –2.2, high in the southwest at dusk, in the constellation of Taurus, 40° lower right of Mars along the ecliptic. Below Jupiter shines Aldebaran. Above it are Beta and Zeta Tauri. Farther to Jupiter’s lower right, you’ll find the Pleiades. Later in the evening Jupiter moves down toward the west. It sets in the west-northwest around 1am.
The Coma Berenices Star Cluster is now wheeling up high in the eastern spring sky. The Coma Star Cluster appears around the size of a ping-pong ball held at arm’s length. But it’s very sparse and dim. Look 40% of the way from Denebola, the tail star of Leo, to Alkaid, the end of the Big Dipper’s handle and the tail of Ursa Major. Tail of the Lion to tail of the Bear. In a very dark sky, the Coma Star Cluster is a definite dim glow, with its brightest specks forming an upside-down Y.
Arcturus, the “Spring Star,” now rises above the east-northeast horizon around the time when the stars come out. Once Arcturus is nicely up, look for the narrow Kite asterism of Boötes extending two fists to its left. The left end of the Kite is bent slightly up.