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t H The Big t i N a a O Dipper I l Alphard e R r P N I G Z o R Etamin O l Sickle e E e N ν Thuban h T T ( T C N ( A
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E l M64 W N S o M3 I K u S Y g NE U h M ) Y A lo Vindemiatrix SE B P c N A at I R e . EG O d ) B U i n . N n ε io E D th L C I e γ e FA T n Th S o ( U CE rt o YO N h- Arcturus VIRGO Le T TE ea f A R st M104 o TH ( er st JU n he ON ST sk CORVUS c TI A y nd EC S to a IR YO fin ead D U d P e h HE AR ola th S T E D ris ms A OI , th for ME NG e N hat SA o t E Charts & Astro• Star Posters • 2008 Astronomy Calendars NOW rth s EAST tern TH ) S tar. r pat IS O T find sta MAP HE C The Sickle is an easy to THE OMPA M OF SS DIRE BOTTO CTION THAT APPEARS ALONG THE at 15h UT , 27° west from Sun (morning Sun (morning , 27° west from at 14h UT (20° from Sun, morning Sun, morning at 14h UT (20° from at 5:48 UT. The time time The at 5:48 UT. at 15h UT (morning sky). at 15h UT (morning at 18h UT (evening sky). at 18h UT (evening SAVE ON RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS • http://Skymaps.com/store SAVE • Star Atlases & Planispheres Atlases • Star • Books for Sky Watchers Sky Map. Evening The of distribution free and production All sales support the at 20h UT (morning sky). Daytime sky). Daytime at 20h UT (morning at 19h UT (morning sky). at 19h UT (morning at 2h UT (morning sky). at 2h UT (morning at 7h UT (evening sky). at 7h UT (evening at 10h UT (morning sky). at 10h UT (morning at 10:46 UT. at 21:47 UT. at 13h UT (evening sky). Mag. sky). Mag. at 13h UT (evening at 13h UT (evening sky). at 13h UT (evening at 14h UT (evening sky). at 14h UT (evening (closest to Earth) at 22h UT (farthest from Earth) at 20h UT (distance Earth) at 20h UT (distance from (farthest at 3h UT (evening sky). Mag. +0.5. sky). Mag. at 3h UT (evening at 17:14 UT. Start of lunation 1054. lunation Start of at 17:14 UT. at 18:40 UT. The full Moon of March is called March of full Moon The at 18:40 UT. Last Quarter Moon Moon near Jupiter Mercury 0.97° from Venus 0.97° from Mercury Moon near Antares Moon near Saturn equinox Spring or vernal Moon near Mars Moon near the Pleiades New Moon New Moon very near Venus Moon very Moon very near Mercury Moon very Mercury at greatest elongation at greatest Mercury Moon near Jupiter the Sap Moon, Crow Moon or Lenten Moon. or Lenten Moon Crow Sap Moon, the Moon near Spica when the Sun reaches the point along the ecliptic ecliptic the along point the Sun reaches the when celestial northern the into it crosses where in the spring start of the marking hemisphere Southern autumn in the and Hemisphere Northern Hemisphere. Full Moon Moon near Pollux Moon near Beehive cluster (M44) Moon near Beehive skywatchers. –3.9. Favors S. Hemisphere –0.3 and sky). Mags. Moon at apogee size 29.5'). 405,092 km; angular (evening sky). (evening Moon near Regulus +0.3. First Quarter Moon First (366,298 km; 32.6'). occultation visible from North America and Cuba. and America North visible from occultation Moon at perigee sky) at 11h UT. Mag. +0.1. Very low in the east-southeast about east-southeast low in the +0.1. Very Mag. sky) at 11h UT. sunrise. before 30 minutes FREE* EACH MONTH FOR YOU TO EXPLORE, LEARN & ENJOY THE NIGHT SKY The Evening Sky Map All times in Universal Time (UT). (USA Eastern Standard Time = UT – 5 hours.) Time Eastern Standard (UT). (USA Time in Universal All times 29 30 23 21 16 17 24 26 27 19 19 21 14 15 12 7 10 5 5 3 Sky Calendar – March 2008 Sky Calendar – March 3 Open StarCluster Magnitude Light Year (ly) Globular StarCluster Galaxy Sun asviewed from Earth. the greatest elongation occurswhen they are attheir most angular distance from the Elongation Ecliptic Earth (optical double). Apparent separation of starsisgiveninseconds of arc ("). gravity sothatthey orbiteachother (binary star)orlying atdifferent distances from Double Star Diffuse Nebula Constellation angular separation as viewed from Earth. Conjunction Astronomical Glossary moonless nights around either New Moon orLastQuarter. the fainter objectsvery difficulttosee. Sotry toobservethe evening skyon through atelescope, itslight issobright thatitbrightens Finally, the skyand makes many eventhough the of Moon isone of the most stunning objectstoview map, cover the light bulbwithred cellophane. Thiswillpreserve yourdark vision. 20 minutes afteryougo outside. Also,ifyouneed touseatorch toview the You sky willseemore starsafteryoureyesadapt tothe darkness—usually about10to away from the light pollution thatsurrounds many of today’s large cities. light from street lights and other sources. Ifpossibleobservefrom adark location nebulae, and galaxies, it’salwaysbesttoobservefrom adark location. Avoid direct When observing the night sky, and inparticular deep-sky objectssuch asstarclusters, Tips forObservingtheNightSky the optical equipment thatmay beavailable tothe stargazer. binoculars. appear more impressive whenviewed through atelescopeorvery large telescope tobeappreciated. is, without optical aid), those easilyseenwithbinoculars, and those requiring a grouped into three categories. Those thatcanbeeasilyseenwiththe naked eye(that visible inthe evening skythismonth (refer tothe monthly skymap). The objectsare Listed onthispage are several of the brighter, more interesting celestial objects About theCelestialObjects Variable Star Mean Time. USA EasternStandard Time (for example, New York) is5 hours behind UT. Universal Time(UT) Planetary Nebula Opposition – Amass of uptoseveral billion starsheld together bygravity. – The pathof the Sun’scenter onthe celestial sphere asseenfrom Earth. –The brightness of acelestial objectasitappearsinthe sky. –The angular separation of twocelestial bodies. ForMercury and Venus –When acelestial body isoppositethe Sun inthe sky. They are grouped inthis waytohighlight objectsthatcanbeseenusing –Two starsthatappearclosetoeachother inthe sky;either linked by –Analignment of twocelestial bodies such thatthey present the least –Astar thatchanges brightness overaperiod of time. –Adefined area of the skycontaining astarpattern. –The distance abeamof light travels at300,000km/secinone year. –Acloud of gasilluminated bynearby stars. –The remnants of a shell of gasblown off byastar. –Agroup of tens orhu –Atime systemusedby astronomers. Alsoknown asGreenwich –Aball-shapedgroup of several thousand oldstars. Note, allof theobjects(except singlestars) will ndreds of relatively young stars.
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE CELESTIAL OBJECTS MARCH 2008 Telescopic Objects Easily SeenwithBinoculars Aur Capella 3 Aur Aur Aur And M37 M36 M38 M31 UMi Tau Tau Polaris Per Tau Aldebaran Hyades Ori Pleiades Ori Algol Leo Gem Betelgeuse Gem Rigel Regulus Pollux CMi CMa Castor δ Boo Procyon Sirius Arcturus 8 UMa UMa Tau γ M82 Pup M81 Mon M1 k Puppis σ Hya Com 2264 β CVn γ CVn 3242 Cnc M64 η M51 M94 M67 ε γ γ Pup Pup UMa Ori Mizar &Alcor M46 Ori Mon M47 Per Double Cluster Mon M42 Mon Cr 69 Hya M50 Gem 2244 2232 CMa γ Com CVn M48 Cnc M35 Mel 111 M41 M3 M44 Easily SeenwiththeNakedEye Vrii Vir Virginis Leo Leonis Ari Arietis And Andromedae Lep Leporis Böi Boo Boötis Cpe Cep Cephei MncrtsMon Monocerotis OinsOri Orionis Cas Cassiopeiae About halfsizeof M38.Locatedinrich MilkyWay starfield. Dist=4,100ly. Stars appeararranged in"pi"orcross shape. Dist=4,300 ly. Andromeda The The North Pole Star. Atelescopereveals anunrelated mag 8companion star. Dist=433ly. Brightest starinTaurus. It isnot associated withthe Hyades starcluster. Dist=66.7ly. Large V-shapedstarcluster. Binoculars reveal many more stars. Dist=152ly. The SevenSisters. Spectacularcluster. Many more starsvisibleinbinoculars. Dist=399ly. Famous eclipsing binary star. Magnitude varies between2.1&3.4over2.867days. One of the largest red supergiant starsknown. Diameter=300 times thatof Sun.Dist=430ly. The brightest starinOrion. Bluesupergiant starwithmag 7companion. Dist=770ly. Brightest starinLeo.Ablue-whitewithatleast1companion. Dist=77ly. With Castor, the twinsons of Leda inclassical mythology. Dist=34ly. Multiple starsystemwith6components. 3starsvisible intelescope. Dist=52ly. Cepheid prototype. Mag varies between3.5&4.4 over5.366days. Mag 6companion. Greek name meaning "before the dog" -risesbefore Sirius(northern latitudes). Dist=11.4ly. The brightest starinthe sky. Alsoknown asthe "DogStar".Dist=8.6ly. Orange, giant Kstar. Name means "bearwatcher". Dist=36.7ly. The 6thbrightest star. Appearsyellowishincolor. Spectroscopic binary. Dist=42 ly. Superb pair of mag 3.5yellow-whitestars. Orbit=169 years. At their closest in2005. Close toM81 butmuch fainter and smaller. Beautiful spiral galaxyvisible withbinoculars. Easytoseeinatelescope. Crab Nebula. Remnant from supernova which wasvisiblein 1054.Dist=6,500ly. Telescope easily shows twoblue-whitestarsof almost equal brightness. Sep=9.9". Superb multiple star. 2mag 7starsone side, mag 9staron other. Struve761tripleinfield. Christmas Tree Cluster. Associated withthe Cone Nebula. Dist=2,450ly. Triple star. Mags 4.6,5.0&5.4.Requires telescopetoview arc-shape. Sep=7.3". Superb pairof golden-yellow giant stars. Mags 2.2&3.5. Orbit=600 years. Sep=4.4". Ghost of Jupiter. Bright bluedisk. Mag 11central star. Dist=2,600ly. Black-Eye Galaxy. Discovered byJ.E.Bode in1775-"asmall, nebulous star". Yellow starmag 3.4&orange starmag 7.5. Dist=19 ly. Orbit=480years. Sep=12". Whirlpool Galaxy. Firstrecognised tohavespiral structure. Dist=25million ly. Compact nearly face-on spiral galaxy. Dist=15million ly. Contains 500+starsmag 10&fainter. One of the oldest clusters. Dist=2,350ly. Red giant star(mag 2.5) withablue-green mag 4.9companion. Sep=2.8".Difficult tosplit. Impressive looking double blue-whitestar. Visibleinasmall telescope. Sep=7.8". Attractive double star. Bright orange starwithmag 5bluecompanion. Sep=9.8". Good eyesight orbinoculars reveals 2stars. Not abinary. Mizarhasamag 4companion. Dist=5,400 ly. Contains planetary NGC2438(Mag 11, d=65") -not associated. Bright starcluster. 15+starsin7xbinoculars. Dist=1,500 ly. Double ClusterinPerseus. NGC869&884.Excellent inbinoculars. Dist=7,300ly. The Great Orion Nebula. Spectacularbright nebula. Bestintelescope. Dist=1,500light years. Lambda Orionis Cluster. Dist=1,630ly. Visible withbinoculars. Telescope reveals indiv Surrounded bythe rather faint Rosette Nebula. Dist=5,540ly. A large scattered starclusterof 20stars. Dist=1,300ly. Visible withbinoculars. Gold&whitestars. Mags 3.6& 6.2.Dist=30ly. Sep=96.3". 12+ starsin7xbinoculars. Triangular asterismnear centre. Dist=1,990 ly. Fine openclusterlocatednear foot of the twinCastor. Dist=2,800ly. Coma Berenices. 80mag 5-6starsin5deg. Dist=288ly. Age=400 million years. First recorded observation byAristotlein325BCas"cloudy spot".Dist=2,300ly. Easy tofind inbinoculars. Might beglimpsedwiththe naked eye. Praesepe orBeehiveCluster. Visible tothe naked eye. Dist=590±20ly. Very fine starcluster. Discovered byMessier in1764.Dist=4,400ly. Galaxy. Most distant objectvisibletonaked eye. Dist=2.93million ly. Copyright © 2000–2008Kym Thalassoudis. AllRights Reserved. idual stars. Dist=3,000ly.