Photo of the Week. Planet Earth: the eighth of
twelve in the "Flight across Greenland," going from east to
west above the fantastic glacier and a river of ice. See full resolution.
Astronomy news for the week starting Friday, March 21,
2014.
The beginning of the week sees the end of the waning gibbous Moon. Third quarter is passed quickly,
the night of Sunday, March 23, shortly before moonrise, after
which our constant companion (to many a little planet in its
own right) enters the waning
crescent phase. The morning of Wednesday the 26th, the
Moon will make a fine sight well to the west of Venus, while
the following morning it will be even better placed with the
rising Moon just above the brilliant planet. The morning of
Friday the 28th will provide the last easy lunar view, with
the Moon, approaching new on Sunday the 30th, rising in bright
twilight now well to the east of Venus . Finally, the Moon passes perigee,
where it is closest to Earth, on Thursday the 27th. The
nearness of perigee to the new phase will as usual boost the
amplitude of the coastal
tides.
As long as we are in the morning sky, admire Venus on its
own. Rising around 5 AM Daylight Time, an hour in advance of
"dawn's early light," the planet passes its greatest
elongation of 47 degrees to the west of the Sun and
(disregarding the Moon) dominates the sky until bright
twilight begins to take it away. It will be with us, tracking
the beginning of twilight, until August, when it will slowly
begin to descend into the eastern dawn. In the evening,
Venus's place is taken by Jupiter, which is already high in the western sky just
after darkness descends. When done with Jupiter, which sets
at 3 AM, look for the rising of obvious Mars as twilight comes to
a close. Though not as bright as Jupiter, as the red planet
approaches opposition to the Sun on April 8 it
is now brighter than any star but Sirius. Prominent throughout
the night in Virgo just
northeast of Spica, Mars
reaches its highest point as it crosses the meridian at 2:30 AM, just before
Jupiter sets. In the middle of things, Saturn(in Libra)comes up in the southwest
at 11 PM, not transiting the southern line until an hour
before dawn.
With Gemini surrounding
Jupiter high in the sky as evening falls and Taurus taking a dive into the
northwestern sky, to the east Leo rises, crossing high to the south around
midnight ahead of Virgo and Mars. To the southwest of the
Lion, look for the ragged head of Hydra, the Water Serpent. The longest constellation of the sky, Hydra winds south of Leo and
Virgo, finally ending to the southwest of Libra. To the northwest in
mid-evening, the Big Dipper
rises. Between it and Polaris twitches then tail of Draco the Dragon.
