Snake River Skies The Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society www.mvastro.org Membership Meeting President’s Message Saturday, March 11th 2017 Dear Colleagues, 7:00pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho. With all of the snow and water, sometimes astronomy gets lost in the winter months. Fortunately, we have a couple of events coming up that are among our members’ Public Star Party Follows at the favorite activities. Centennial Observatory First, this month’s meeting will be the annual Show and Tell, Saturday, March 11, at Club Officers 7 p.m. in the Herrett Center’s Rick Allen. Anyone who has been working on something, has purchased something, or has simply found another interesting facet Robert Mayer, President of astronomy can come in and spend 10 to 20 informal minutes showing off or [email protected] talking about what he or she is working on. Sometimes it’s a newly built telescope, 208-312-1203 and sometimes it’s a new set of pictures, but last year’s highlight was Jay Naegele surprising us with his Sunsetter Solar Scope. Who knows what we’ll find this time? Tim Frazier, Vice President [email protected] If you do have an interesting item you’d like to share, would you please give me a heads-up so I can plan out an informal schedule? Contact me at Gary Leavitt, Secretary [email protected] so I can make sure everyone gets enough time. [email protected] 208-731-7476 Two weeks later will be the annual Messier Marathon. The main date is Friday, March 24th, while the back-up date is Saturday, March 25th. Whether you’re going Jim Tubbs, Treasurer / ALCOR for all 110 Messier objects, or you’re just glad to get out with the scope after a rough [email protected] winter, come on down to the Jerome Gun Club. If you don’t have a scope, contact 208-404-2999 us, and we’ll bring a loaner. If you want to bring a friend, by all means, bring him or her. This is one of the highlights of the year. David Olsen, Newsletter Editor [email protected] Until then, Clear Views, Rick Widmer, Webmaster [email protected] Magic Valley Astronomical Society is a member of the Astronomical League M-51 imaged by Rick Widmer & Ken Thomason Herrett Telescope Shotwell Camera Calendar for January Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 First Quarter MVAS Meeting 51% Visible ↑ at 7:00pm at the Herrett Center Public Star Party Centennial Obs. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Full Moon St. Patrick's Day 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Last Quarter Earth Hour Vernal Observing at Equinox the Centennial Observatory 8:30-9:30pm 26 27 28 29 30 31 New Moon Lunation 1166 1% Visible↑ Snake River Skies is the Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society and is published electronically once a month. SkyWatcher is copyrighted, except where noted and credit is via permission of the respective author. SkyWatcher © 2017 by David Olsen for the Magic Valley Astronomical Society, All Rights Reserved. Images used in this newsletter, unless otherwise noted, are in the public domain and are courtesy of NASA, Wikimedia, or from MVAS File Photos. Full Moon names follow the traditional Algonquin First Nation history. Celestial Calendar All times, unless otherwise noted, are Universal Time (UT subtract seven hours and, when appropriate, one calendar day for MST and six hours for MDT as of March 12th) 3/1 Venus is 9.7 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 2:00; Uranus is 3.4 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 18:00; the Moon, Mars, and Uranus lie within a circle with a diameter of 4.2 degrees at 20:00; Mars is 4.1 degrees north- northwest of the Moon at 21:00 3/2 Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun at 3:00; Venus is stationary in right ascension at 14:00; asteroid 1 Ceres is 0.8 degree north of the Moon, with an occultation visible from South Georgia, the Antarctic peninsula, and the southern half of South America, at 3:00 3/3 The Moon is at perigee, subtending 32' 23" from a distance of 369,063 kilometers (229,325 miles), at 7:33; asteroid 29 Amphitrite (magnitude +9.1) is at opposition at 12:00 3/4 The Moon is 9.3 degrees south-southeast of the bright open cluster M45 (the Pleiades or Subaru) in Taurus at 10:00; Mercury is 1.0 degree south-southeast of Neptune at 12:00 3/5 The 45%-illuminated Moon is 0.25 degree north-northwest of the first-magnitude star Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), with an occultation visible from the western Caribbean, Central America, most of the continental United States, Hawaii, Micronesia, and the Solomon Islands, at 3:00; the Lunar X (the Purbach or Werner Cross), an X-shaped Clair-Obscure illumination effect involving various rims and ridges between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach, is predicted to occur at 9:56; 3/6 The Moon is 5.5 degrees south of the bright open cluster M35 in Gemini at 17:00 3/7 Mercury is in superior conjunction with the Sun at 0:00; asteroid 4 Vesta is stationary at 3:00 3/8 The Moon is 10.1 degrees south of the first-magnitude star Pollux (Beta Geminorum) at 7:00; asteroid 41 Daphne (magnitude +9.6) is at opposition at 7:00 3/9 The Moon is 3.6 degrees south of the bright open cluster M44 (the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe) in Cancer at 7:00 3/10 Comet 2P/Encke is at perihelion (0.3359 astronomical unit from the Sun) at 2:00; the Moon is 0.8 degrees south- southwest of the first-magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) at 22:00; 3/11 The Moon is at the ascending node (longitude 153.4 degrees) at 4:20; the Sun enters Pisces, at longitude 351.6 degrees on the ecliptic, at 23:00 3/12 Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins today; Full Moon (known as the Crow, Lenten, and Sap Moon) occurs at 14:54 3/14 Venus is at its greatest latitude north of the ecliptic plane (3.4 degrees) at 6:00; Jupiter is 2.3 degrees south- southwest of the Moon at 22:00 3/15 The Moon is 6.1 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) at 3:00; asteroid Pallas is in conjunction with the Sun at 3:00 3/17 Saturn is at western quadrature (i.e., 90 degrees from the Sun) at 22:00 3/18 The Moon is at apogee, subtending 29' 32" from a distance of 404,649 kilometers (251,438 miles), at 17:25; Mercury (magnitude -1.3) is 8.5 degrees south-southeast of Venus (magnitude -4.2) at 18:00; Mercury is at the ascending node at 22:00; the Moon is 9.8 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Antares (Alpha Scorpii) at 23:00 3/20 Saturn is 3.4 degrees south of the Moon at 10:49; the Vernal Equinox occurs at 11:29; 3/21 The Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped Clair-Obscure illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to be at a midpoint at 12:42 3/25 Venus is in inferior conjunction with the Sun at 10:00; the Moon is in descending node (longitude 333.1degrees) at 15:43 3/26 Neptune is 0.01 degree east-northeast of the Moon; Mercury (magnitude -0.8) is 2.1degrees north-northwest of Uranus (magnitude +5.9) at 10:00 3/27 Venus is 10.7 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 19:00 3/29 Uranus is 3.4 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 5:00; Mercury is 6.3 degrees NNW of the Moon at 11:00 3/30 The Moon is at perigee, subtending 32' 50" from a distance of 363,854 kilometers (226,088 miles), at 12:32; Mars is 5.3 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 16:00 3/31 The Moon is 9.2 degrees south-southeast of M45 at 17:00 Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite, was discovered on March 25, 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. The English astronomer Edward Pigott discovered the spiral galaxy M63 (the Black Eye Galaxy) on March 23, 1779. The English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus on March 13, 1781. Asteroid 4 Vesta was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on March 29, 1807. The first photograph of the Moon was taken on March 23, 1840. The Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek discovered Comet C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek) on March 7, 1973. The rings of Uranus were discovered on March 10, 1977. The Spanish amateur astronomer Francisco Garcia Diaz Garcia discovered supernova SN 1993 in the spiral galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy) on March 28th, 1993. The zodiacal light may be visible in the western sky after sunset from dark locations during the second half of March. The Sun, the Moon, & the Planets The Sun is in Aquarius on March 1st at 0:00 UT. The Sun crosses the celestial equator at 10:29 on March 20th, bringing spring to the northern hemisphere. Brightness, apparent size, illumination, distance from the Earth in astronomical units, and location data for the planets and Pluto on March 1st: Mercury (magnitude -1.3, 4.9", 99%, 1.38 a.u., Aquarius), Venus (magnitude -4.8, 46.9", 17% illuminated, 0.36 a.u., Pisces), Mars (magnitude +1.3, 4.6", 94% illuminated, 2.04 a.u., Pisces), Jupiter (magnitude -2.3, 42.1", 100% illuminated, 4.68 a.u., Virgo), Saturn (magnitude +0.5, 16.2", 100% illuminated, 10.28 a.u., Sagittarius), Uranus (magnitude +5.9, 3.4", 100% illuminated, 20.81 a.u.