Snake River Skies The Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society www.mvastro.org Membership Meeting MVAS President’s Message March 2019 Saturday, March 9th 2019 7:00pm at the Herrett Center for Arts & Science College of Southern Idaho. Colleagues, Public Star Party follows at the This is the time of year that winter begins to contemplate shifting gears. Already Centennial Observatory we’ve started to see mornings and evenings of snow, only to watch it melt away with the mid-day rain. That also means our chances at the astronomical sights of the Club Officers season are becoming fewer and fewer. The eye (Sirius) of the big dog (Canis Major) now dominates the southern sky as early as 9:30 a.m. In a month, Orion will no Robert Mayer, President longer stay up with us past midnight. [email protected] One of those winter features is one we think we know a bit about, the Pleiades. Gary Leavitt, Vice President Recent research, however, suggests it’s worth taking a second look at this bright [email protected] fuzzy in the sky, the giant among open clusters. With that in mind, we invite you to come to our meeting this month for a presentation on the Seven Sisters. Come find Dr. Jay Hartwell, Secretary out how far away it really is, what’s really there, and why we should treat the cluster with importance. Jim Tubbs, Treasurer / ALCOR [email protected] A couple of other functions these next few days will give us a chance to either 208-404-2999 practice what we’ve learned, or to merely say farewell to the Orion and its friends. First, March 30th is Earth Hour. We invite you to check in with the Herrett Center for David Olsen, Newsletter Editor more about its activities that evening. Secondly, April 5th is an MVAS-members star [email protected] party at the Jerome Gun Club. This is ordinarily an attempt at a Messier Marathon, but this year the moon’s brightness gets in the way of the best window for a shot at Rick Widmer, Webmaster capturing all of the Messier catalogue. With that in mind, we had to start a little later [email protected] in the year. Still, that shouldn’t get in the way of a good time. If you need to borrow a telescope, contact me at [email protected] or 208-312-1203 and I’ll see what I can bring. If you don’t want to bring a scope and just sit and watch the sky, by all means, come. Magic Valley Astronomical Society is a Clear Views, member of the Astronomical League Rob Mayer M-51 imaged by Rick Widmer & Ken Thomason Herrett Telescope Shotwell Camera Calendar March 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mardi Gras New Moon MVAS Meeting Lunation 1190 at 7:00pm at the 1% Visible ↓ Herrett Center Age: 29.38 Days Public Star Party Centennial Obs. 7:30 - Midnight 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Commonwealth First Quarter Day Canada 51% Visible ↑ Age: 7.45 Days 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 St. Patrick's Full Moon Day 100% Visible Age: 15.27 Days Worm Moon See you at O’Dunkens 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Last Quarter "Earth Hour" Visible 48% ↓ Telescope Age: 22.43 Days Viewing 8:30p - 9:30p 31 Snake River Skies is the Newsletter of the Magic Valley Astronomical Society and is published electronically once a month. Snake River Skies © 2019 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. Be Careful – Be Safe – Get Out There – Explore Your Universe March Celestial Calendar by Dave Mitsky All times, unless otherwise noted, are UT (subtract seven hours and, when appropriate, one calendar day for MST and six hours for MDT as of March 10th) 3/1 The Moon is 0.4 degree northeast of Saturn, with an occultation occurring in southern North America, Central America, most of northern Polynesia, and most of Micronesia, at 19:00 3/2 The Moon, Saturn, and Pluto lie within a circle with a diameter of 4.7 degrees at 3:00; the Moon is at the descending node (longitude 296.0 degrees) at 11:00; the Moon is 0.6 degree north of Pluto, with an occultation occurring in most of Mongolia, most of China, most of southern and eastern Asia, India, the Middle East, southwestern Europe, and northeastern Africa, at 20:00; the Moon is 1.2 degrees south of Venus at 21:00 3/4 The Moon is at apogee, subtending 29' 24" from a distance of 406,390 kilometers (252,519 miles), at 10:26 3/5 Asteroid 2 Pallas is stationary at 2:00; Mercury is stationary in right ascension, with retrograde motion to commence, at 5:00; Mercury is stationary in longitude, with retrograde motion to commence, at 18:00 3/6 New Moon (lunation 1190) occurs at 16:04; the Moon is 3.0 degrees south-southeast of Neptune at 17:00 3/7 Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun (latitude -0.99 degree) at 1:00; Mercury is at its northernmost latitude from the ecliptic plane (7.0 degrees) at 3:00; the Moon is 7.9 degrees south southeast of Mercury at 19:00; asteroid 4 Vesta is in conjunction with the Sun at 22:00 3/10 Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins today; the Moon is 4.6 degrees south-southeast of Uranus at 8:00 3/11 The Moon is 5.5 degrees south-southeast of Mars at 17:00 3/12 The Sun enters Pisces (longitude 351.6 degrees on the ecliptic) at 11:00; the Moon is 8.2 degrees south-southeast of the bright open cluster M45 (the Pleiades or Subaru) in Taurus at 17:00 3/13 The Moon is 1.9 degrees north of the first-magnitude star Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) at 10:00; the Lunar X (the Purbach or Werner Cross), an X-shaped illumination effect involving various rims and ridges between the craters La Caille, Blanchinus, and Purbach, is predicted to be fully formed at 15:26 3/14 Jupiter is at western quadrature (90 degrees from the Sun) at 1:00; Venus is at the descending node through the ecliptic plane at 9:00; First Quarter Moon occurs at 10:26 3/15 Mercury is at inferior conjunction with the Sun (0.618 astronomical units from the Earth, latitude 5.7 degrees) at 2:00 3/16 The Moon is 6.8 degrees south of the first-magnitude star Pollux (Beta Geminorum) at 15:00; the Moon is at the ascending node (longitude 114.9 degrees) at 16:00 3/17 The Moon is 0.5 degree south of the bright open cluster M44 (the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe) in Cancer at 13:00 3/18 A double Galilean satellite shadow transit (Europa follows Ganymede) begins at 5:33 3/19 The Moon is 2.5 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Regulus (Alpha Leonis) at 2:00; the Moon is at perigee, subtending 33' 15" from a distance of 359,377 kilometers (223,307 miles), at 19:48 3/20 The northern hemisphere vernal equinox occurs at 21:58 3/21 Full Moon (known as the Crow, Lenten, and Sap Moon) occurs at 1:43 3/22 The Moon is 7.1 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) at 17:00; spring equinox on Mars occurs at 22:00 3/25 A double Galilean satellite shadow transit (Europa follows Ganymede) begins at 8:06 3/26 The Moon is 8.1 degrees north-northeast of the first-magnitude star Antares (Alpha Scorpii) 2:00 3/27 The Moon is 1.9 degrees north-northeast of Jupiter at 4:00; Mercury is stationary in right ascension, with prograde (direct) motion to commence, at 12:00 3/28 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 4:10; Mercury is stationary in longitude and resumes prograde (direct) motion at 14:00 3/29 The Moon is 0.05 degree south of Saturn, with an occultation occurring in Sri Lanka, far southern India, Madagascar, southern Africa, and far eastern Brazil, at 5:00; the Moon is 0.3 degree north of Pluto, with an occultation occurring far western Africa, the Cape Verde Islands, Madeira, the northern half of South America, Central America, and southern and western Mexico, at 12:00; the Moon is at the descending node (longitude 293.7 degrees) at 13:00; the Curtiss Cross, an X-shaped clair-obscure illumination effect located between the craters Parry and Gambart, is predicted to be visible at 19:30 3/30 Mercury is at the descending node through the ecliptic plane at 23:00 3/31 Mars (magnitude +1.4) is 3.1 degrees south-southeast of M45 (the Pleiades) Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762), Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), Josef von Fraunhofer (1787-1826), John Herschel (1792-1871), Percival Lowell (1855-1916), Albert Einstein (1879-1955), and Walter Baade (1893-1960) were born this month. The zodiacal light may be visible in the western sky after sunset from dark locations after March 21st. The Sun, the Moon, & the Planets The Moon is 23.9 days old, is illuminated 28.0%, subtends 29.4 arc minutes, and is located in the constellation of Sagittarius at 0:00 UT on March 1st.