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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through March 14, 2018. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.
Daylight Time returns on Sunday, March 11th. On that morning, 1:59 a.m., Pacific Standard Time will be followed by 3:00 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time. Aside from our loss of an hour of sleep, this is of interest to sky observers because it means that sunset jumps from 5:45 p.m. on Saturday to 6:44 p.m. on Sunday, and sunrise advances from 6:22 to 7:23 a.m. on the same days. Instead of the sun crossing the meridian at about 12:00 noon, it is highest in the sky at about 1:00 p.m. after the time change.
Don’t miss an opportunity to see the planet Mercury in the evening sky! Finding Mercury is made simple until March 20th because up to that time it is located close to the brightest planet, Venus, after sunset. Venus is the brilliant silvery spot above the western horizon, and the sky will be dark enough at half an hour after sunset to see the dimmer gleam of Mercury only a couple of degrees to the upper right of Venus.
At dawn, the planets Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn form a line that is angled down and to the left from Jupiter, high in the south, to Saturn, low in the southeast.
Jupiter, in the constellation Libra the Scales, is the brightest of the three morning planets. Ordinary binoculars or a telescope can show you its four largest moons clustered around the planet’s bright disk. A more powerful telescope can reveal the parallel dark belts and bright zones of Jupiter’s clouds, and occasional views of the giant oval storm, the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot will be on the side of Jupiter facing observers on the west coast at 5:00 a.m. on the 7th, 10th, 12th, and 14th.
Orange Mars, moving from Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer to the adjacent constellation Scorpius the Scorpion on the 11th, is still more than three times as far away as it will be at the end of July and so it is difficult currently to see its telescopic details.
Golden Saturn, in Sagittarius the Archer, will only reveal its rings when viewed with a magnification of twenty-power or more.
The waning moon changes from gibbous to last quarter phase on the morning of the 9th. On the following mornings it will be crescent before becoming new on the 19th. It rises at 11:52 p.m. on the 7th, and at 5:35 a.m. on the 14th. The moon passes through the portion of the sky occupied by the three morning planets. It will appear close to Jupiter on the 7th, Mars on the 9th, and Saturn on the 11th.
China’s prototype space station, Tiangong-1–now abandoned, uncontrolled, and falling from orbit–is predicted (as of March 7) to experience a fiery reentry between March 27th and April 10th. There may be two chances to see the doomed satellite on coming nights. On its present orbit, Tiangong-1 should be high in the sky at Los Angeles, gleaming as brightly the brightest stars, on the 12th and 13th. On the 12th, it will cross the sky from the northwest to the east between 7:38 and 7:42 p.m., and it will be at its highest, 53 degrees above the north-northeast horizon, at 7:41 p.m. On the next night, the 13th, Tiangong-1 will be visible between 7:26 and 7:30 p.m., traveling from the west-northwest to east-southeast, and passing directly overhead at 7:28 p.m. Because Tiangong-1’s orbit is changing quickly, it is recommended that you check the Heavens-Above satellite tracking website for viewing updates. Remember that you must follow the website’s directions and enter your viewing location in order to get accurate viewing predictions. Updated estimates of the possible re-entry time and location are generated by the Aerospace Corporation’s Tiangong-1 reentry website.
Free views of the Sun during the day and of the moon and other interesting celestial objects at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, March 24th.
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From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.