If It’s Clear
If It’s Clear
By Fulton Wright Jr.
Prescott, AZ
Celestial events (from Sky & Telescope magazine, Astronomy magazine, and anywhere else I can find information) customized for Prescott, Arizona.
Remember, the Moon is 1/2 degree or 30 arcminutes in diameter. All times are Mountain Standard Time.
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February 2012
On Tuesday, February 7, at 6:17 PM (12 minutes after sunset), the full Moon rises, spoiling any chance of seeing faint fuzzies for the night.
On Wednesday, February 8, from 7:18 PM to 9:02 PM, you can see Ganymede’s shadow crossing the very southern part of Jupiter.
On Thursday, February 9, from 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM, you can see Venus and Uranus near each other. Venus is magnitude -4. Uranus is .3 degrees to the left and magnitude 6 (that is a factor of 10,000 dimmer).
On Sunday, February 12, from 7:44 PM to 9:52 PM, you can see Io’s shadow on Jupiter. Io itself moves from in front of the planet at 8:39 PM.
On Monday, February 13, the Moon is at last quarter phase and rises at 1:01 AM (Tuesday).
On Tuesday, February 21, it is new Moon and you have all night to hunt for faint fuzzies.
On Wednesday, February 22, near 6:30 PM, you might be able to see the Moon near Mercury. This will be an observing challenge. With binoculars look low in the West for Mercury (magnitude -1). 5 degrees to the right is the very, very thin crescent Moon (only 27 hours old [since new Moon]).
On Saturday, February 25, at dusk, you can see the Moon near Venus.
On Sunday, February 26, at dusk, you can see the Moon near Jupiter.
On Wednesday, February 29, the Moon is at first quarter phase and sets at 1:50 AM (Thursday). At 8:15 PM Europa’s shadow falls on Jupiter. At 8:29 PM Europa moves from in front of Jupiter. The shadow remains on the planet until 10:36 PM.
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March 2012
Oh, no, not comet C2009 P1 (Gerradd) again! Yep. Heeeeeee’s back. Between March 9 and 27, when the Moon won’t be a problem, you can catch the comet passing just north of the Big Dipper in the early evening. See Sky & Telescope, March 2012, p.60 for more information.
On Friday, March 2, at 8:38 PM, you can see the Moon occult a double star, 15 Geminorum (HD 45352) (magnitude 6.5). Use a large (12 inch) telescope to make the stars as bright as possible.
On Saturday, March 3, Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation. This will be the best chance of seeing the planet in the evening sky for the year. Sunset is at 6:28 PM. Civil twilight ends at 6:53 PM. Nautical twilight ends at 7:23 PM. Mercury sets at 7:55 PM.
Also on Saturday, March 3, Mars is at opposition. Although this will be the best time to view the planet for the next couple of years, it won’t be great. Mars will appear only 14 arc-seconds in diameter. At least it will be fairly high in the sky (65 degrees above the horizon) when it transits at 12:46 AM (March 4). For the month before and after this opposition you have a reasonable chance of seeing some markings on the planet with your highest resolution telescope.
On Monday, March 5, at 7:25 PM as darkness is falling, Algol (Beta Persei) will be at its minimum brightness (magnitude 3.4). As the night progresses it will rise to magnitude 2.1.
On Wednesday, March 7, at 6:10 PM (21 minutes before sunset) the full Moon rises, spoiling any chance of seeing faint fuzzies for the night. This is a good night for seeing bright objects, however. In addition to the Moon, you might be able to catch Mercury before it sets (7:56 PM), Venus and Jupiter in the west, Mars in the east near the Moon, and, if you wait for it to rise at 9:37 PM, Saturn. Not only that, but the winter hexagon (Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux, Procyon, and Sirius) along with Castor and Betelgeuse are prominent in the south. Regulus is near Mars and Spica is near Saturn.
On Saturday, March 10, 9:18 PM, the asteroid 57 Mnemosyne (magnitude 12.5) passes in front of the star HD 245465 (magnitude 9.6). You might want to travel to a site north of Phoenix to be in the path of the occultation. See http://asteroidoccultation.com for detailed info. And, after about 10 PM, you can see a nice triangle formed by the Moon, Saturn, and Spica, just above the eastern horizon.
On Sunday, March 11, at 2:00 AM, thumb your nose at amateur astronomers outside of Arizona as they go on daylight savings time and have to wait an additional hour to start observing.
On Monday, March 12, in the early evening, Jupiter and Venus will be near each other in the western sky. They are also close the next night.
On Wednesday, March 14, the Moon is at last quarter phase and rises at at 1:57 AM (March 15).
On Friday. March 16, Mars is in the vicinity of the trio of galaxies M95, 96 and 105. It will be passing through the area for a few days.
On Tuesday, March 20, spring begins.
On Thursday, March 22, it is new Moon and you have all night to hunt for faint fuzzies. At 7:41 PM as darkness is falling, Io moves from in front of Jupiter. Both Io’s and Ganymede’s shadows are on the planet. Io’s shadow leaves at 8:29 PM, Ganymede’s at 9:14 PM (half an hour before Jupiter sets).
On Sunday and Monday, March 25 and 26, in the early evening, the thin, crescent Moon will be passing by Jupiter and Venus.
On Tuesday, March 27, in the evening, Venus is at greatest eastern elongation, which means it looks first quarter phase (half lit). Over the next couple of months Venus will show an increasingly slender crescent phase as it grows in angular size.
On Wednesday, March 28, at 4:23 AM, the asteroid 823 Sisigambis (magnitude 13.5) moves in front of the star HD 107161 (magnitude 6.8). This event will happen very low in the southwest. See http://asteroidoccultation.com for detailed info.
On Thursday, March 29, at 8:18 PM, Io’s shadow falls on Jupiter. (Io is already in front of the planet.) Six minutes later Ganymede moves in front of the planet.
On Friday, March 30, the Moon is at first quarter phase and sets at 2:01 AM (March 31).
