Space News - March

Make Way for the King of Spring

During March, we begin the slow farewell to the familiar constellations of winter. Taurus the bull, Orion the hunter, and Canis Major the big dog are still visible this month, but every evening they set just a little earlier. By May, they will be lost in the glow of sunset.

Meanwhile, spring constellations are coming into view. One of the most famous of these is Leo the lion. The head of Leo looks a bit like the hook of a coat hanger or a backwards question mark. The bright dot at the bottom of the question mark is a star called Regulus that marks the regal heart of this king of the celestial jungle.

Just to the east of Regulus is the planet Saturn, which appears pale yellow to the unaided eye. Your average binoculars will show an oval dot instead of a round dot like the other planets. Saturn's beautiful rings will show up nicely in a good small telescope.

Just above Leo is Ursa Major the great bear. Most people are more familiar with the part of Ursa Major called the Big Dipper. Ursa Major is one of the 88 official constellations recognized by astronomers around the world. By contrast, the Big Dipper is just an unofficial asterism, a popular pattern of stars. Whatever you call it, it's especially easy to find this month, high in the sky in the early evening.
Now that you have found the Big Dipper, you can use it to find the North Star. Draw an imaginary line through the two stars on the outside of the bowl of the Big Dipper, out of the bowl until you reach a star of similar brightness.

Unfortunately, many people think the North Star is the brightest star in the night sky, but it really only ranks 47th on the list of bright stars. Its official name is Polaris, and that’s no accident.

Imagine drawing a line from the south pole of the Earth through the center, to the north pole. That’s the Earth’s axis, the imaginary line that the planet rotates around. Now imagine extending that imaginary line out from the north pole all the way into space. The line runs almost exactly into Polaris. Now draw a line from Polaris straight down to the horizon, and you’ve found the direction north.

Take the time to watch the stars over several hours as the Earth rotates. All the stars appear to circle around Polaris, while Polaris itself stays in the same spot in the sky all night. There’s nothing else really special about Polaris. It’s just a big cosmic coincidence that it happens to be right in line with the Earth’s axis.

Mars, near Gemini the twins, continues to fade after its close approach to the Earth in December. As Mars and Earth get further apart, the planet looks fainter to our eyes. If you look at Mars in a small telescope, you won't see much if any detail. It will look like just a pale pink dot, but notice that it still looks round, unlike the pinpoint dots of the stars - or the oval of Saturn.

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