SKY WATCHING
<BGSOUND SRC="tarot.mid" LOOP=INFINITE> IF I REMEMBER??? I WILL UPDATE THIS WEEKLY This Week's Sky at a Glance Feb 26 -- Mar 6, 1999 By the Editors of Sky & Telescope Click on image for larger view FEB. 26 -- FRIDAY Some doorstep astronomy: brilliant Sirius, the Dog Star, shines in the south during early evening at this time of year. It's the brightest star in the sky (after the Sun), and it's also the closest star to our solar system that's visible to the naked eye from midnorthern latitudes. Sirius is only 8.6 light-years away. FEB. 27 -- SATURDAY More doorstep astronomy: to the upper left of Sirius by about two fist-widths at arm's length is Procyon, the Little Dog Star. (It's to the right of the Moon this evening.) Procyon is also a near stellar neighbor; it's 11.4 light-years away. FEB. 28 -- SUNDAY The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple of hours centered on 7:32 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Algol takes several additional hours to fade and rebrighten. MARCH 1 -- MONDAY Full Moon (exact at 1:58 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Tuesday morning). MARCH 2 -- TUESDAY Mercury is at greatest elongation, 18 degrees east of the Sun. Usually Mercury is hard or impossible to see, but this week it's easy! Look low in the west as twilight fades, to the lower right of brighter Venus and Jupiter. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, can be seen in a small telescope three or four ring-lengths east of the planet this evening through Thursday evening. MARCH 3 -- WEDNESDAY The red long-period variable stars R Lyncis, V Canum Venaticorum, and R Bootis should be at their maximum brightnesses this week (7th or 8th magnitude). MARCH 4 -- THURSDAY This week Orion stands at its highest due south as twilight is fading. It's to the upper right of brilliant Sirius. MARCH 5 -- FRIDAY Mercury is 4 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter very low in the west during twilight. Look for them below brighter Venus. MARCH 6 -- SATURDAY The waning gibbous Moon shines near Mars late tonight. They rise in the east-southeast by about 11 p.m. and are positioned high in the south-southwest by dawn. This Week's Planet Roundup MERCURY can be spotted low in the west during twilight, to the lower right of brighter Venus and Jupiter. Mercury should be easy to see; this week it's having its best evening apparition of the year (for observers at north temperate latitudes). VENUS and JUPITER shine low in the west after sunset. Venus is the brightest one; Jupiter is below it or to its lower right. They are getting farther apart day by day as Jupiter heads down into the sunset and Venus climbs into higher view. MARS, shining at magnitude -0.2 in Libra, rises around 10:30 p.m. and is high in the south before dawn. In a telescope Mars enlarges this week from 10 to 11 arcseconds in apparent diameter. Mars will reach opposition on April 24th and pass closest to Earth on May 1st, when it will appear 16.2 arcseconds wide. SATURN, magnitude +0.3, is the yellowish "star" to the upper left of Venus and Jupiter in the west during and after dusk. URANUS and NEPTUNE are hidden in the glow of sunrise. PLUTO, magnitude 13.8, is in Ophiuchus in the south-southeast before dawn. (All descriptions that relate to the horizon or zenith are written for the world's midnorthern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude are for North America. Eastern Standard Time, EST, equals Universal Time minus 5 hours.) Full details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each month in Sky & Telescope magazine. Clear skies! . REBECCA'S BOOK OF SHADOWS
Feb 26 -- Mar 6, 1999
Click on image for larger view
FEB. 26 -- FRIDAY
Some doorstep astronomy: brilliant Sirius, the Dog Star, shines in the south during early evening at this time of year. It's the brightest star in the sky (after the Sun), and it's also the closest star to our solar system that's visible to the naked eye from midnorthern latitudes. Sirius is only 8.6 light-years away.
FEB. 27 -- SATURDAY
More doorstep astronomy: to the upper left of Sirius by about two fist-widths at arm's length is Procyon, the Little Dog Star. (It's to the right of the Moon this evening.) Procyon is also a near stellar neighbor; it's 11.4 light-years away.
FEB. 28 -- SUNDAY
The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple of hours centered on 7:32 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Algol takes several additional hours to fade and rebrighten.
MARCH 1 -- MONDAY
Full Moon (exact at 1:58 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Tuesday morning).
MARCH 2 -- TUESDAY
Mercury is at greatest elongation, 18 degrees east of the Sun. Usually Mercury is hard or impossible to see, but this week it's easy! Look low in the west as twilight fades, to the lower right of brighter Venus and Jupiter.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, can be seen in a small telescope three or four ring-lengths east of the planet this evening through Thursday evening.
MARCH 3 -- WEDNESDAY
The red long-period variable stars R Lyncis, V Canum Venaticorum, and R Bootis should be at their maximum brightnesses this week (7th or 8th magnitude).
MARCH 4 -- THURSDAY
This week Orion stands at its highest due south as twilight is fading. It's to the upper right of brilliant Sirius.
MARCH 5 -- FRIDAY
Mercury is 4 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter very low in the west during twilight. Look for them below brighter Venus.
MARCH 6 -- SATURDAY
The waning gibbous Moon shines near Mars late tonight. They rise in the east-southeast by about 11 p.m. and are positioned high in the south-southwest by dawn.
This Week's Planet Roundup
MERCURY can be spotted low in the west during twilight, to the lower right of brighter Venus and Jupiter. Mercury should be easy to see; this week it's having its best evening apparition of the year (for observers at north temperate latitudes).
VENUS and JUPITER shine low in the west after sunset. Venus is the brightest one; Jupiter is below it or to its lower right. They are getting farther apart day by day as Jupiter heads down into the sunset and Venus climbs into higher view.
MARS, shining at magnitude -0.2 in Libra, rises around 10:30 p.m. and is high in the south before dawn. In a telescope Mars enlarges this week from 10 to 11 arcseconds in apparent diameter. Mars will reach opposition on April 24th and pass closest to Earth on May 1st, when it will appear 16.2 arcseconds wide.
SATURN, magnitude +0.3, is the yellowish "star" to the upper left of Venus and Jupiter in the west during and after dusk.
URANUS and NEPTUNE are hidden in the glow of sunrise.
PLUTO, magnitude 13.8, is in Ophiuchus in the south-southeast before dawn.
(All descriptions that relate to the horizon or zenith are written for the world's midnorthern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude are for North America. Eastern Standard Time, EST, equals Universal Time minus 5 hours.)
Full details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each month in Sky & Telescope magazine. Clear skies!
