South Wales Argus astronomy columnist Jon Powell has been interested in astronomy since the early 1980s and combining his passion for the topic with that of writing he regularly contributes to local newspapers, Astronomy Now, and the BBC Sky at Night Magazine. He is also a regular on the radio, including Roy Noble's BBC Radio Wales programme. He has published three books on the subject and is involved with the Association for Astronomy Education, helping to bring astronomy more into the public domain. He is also involved locally with the Campaign for Dark Skies.
AN HISTORIC moment occurred on February 18 as NASA’s Perseverance spacecraft touched down on the surface of Mars, surviving “seven minutes of terror” as it hurtled toward the Martian surface.
Over the next two years, with the aid of the first-ever helicopter which was stowed away onboard, ‘Percy’ will look for signs of past life.
New research published in Nature’s Scientific Reports has offered yet another angle on the long-running debate as to whether it was a comet or an asteroid that was responsible for the impact that sparked off the demise of the dinosaurs. Researchers believe a fragment of a comet was potentially to blame, with the original intact comet thrown off course and toward Earth having had its trajectory altered by the gravitational pull of Jupiter.
‘Snow’ moon
Over the past week or so, the evening sky has been dominated by February’s full moon, otherwise known as the ‘Snow Moon’ which reflects wintry conditions for the time of year in the northern hemisphere. Bright and unmissable, it really was quite a spectacle in the late February, early March sky.
Full Moon in February - Richard Marshall, of New Inn, Pontypool
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Stars and constellations
As Orion the Hunter sets in the South West in the evening sky, there’s still time to catch another winter constellation before it disappears from our view.
Using the bottom right-hand star in Orion, Rigel, draw an imaginary line up to the top left-hand star Betelgeuse. Continue the angle of the line and it will lead you to two bright stars, these will be Pollux to the lower left and Castor to the higher right, the ‘twins’ in the constellation of Gemini.
Pollux, which appears whiter than Castor, shines as the brightest star in the constellation, and 18th brightest in the entire sky. Pollux lies around 34 light years distant from Earth and is around nine times larger than our Sun.
Castor is the second brightest star in Gemini, and the 44th brightest star in the entire sky, lying at 51 light-years distant from Earth.
Castor, which has an apparent golden glow, is in fact a system comprising six stars although to the naked eye it appears as just one star.
Planets
Mars steals the show yet again in March.
Early in the month, the planet skirts beneath the Pleiades star cluster making for a lovely sight in the evening sky.
Sadly, Mars is not as plain in the night sky as it has been in recent months as the planet draws further away from Earth. However, it can still be seen with its reddish hue in the South West, and it’s Mars you need to find first when trying to locate the Pleaides.
Once you have located Mars, pan upwards and slowly to the right and you should come to a fuzzy, hazy patch of stars, this will be the Pleaides, otherwise known as the ‘Seven Sisters’.
The cluster actually contains some 3,000 stars but only a handful are visible to the naked-eye. Pronounced ‘Player-deeze’, see how many you can spot. On a clear, crisp, dark night, away from light pollution, it is possible to spot up to 12 stars in the group.
The Moon
On the evening of Sunday, March 14, have a go at trying to spot a very thin crescent Moon.
Full Moon in February - Stephen Webber at the Brecon Beacons
On view for around one hour after sunset, have a careful look above the western horizon. Just 1.8 per cent of the moon’s surface will be lit making for quite a challenge to locate in the evening twilight.
Spring equinox
The spring equinox occurs on Saturday, March 20. This event marks the astronomical first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.
After this date, the northern hemisphere begins to be tilted more toward the sun resulting in increasing daylight hours. The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night”—aequus (equal) and nox (night). On the equinox, the length of day and night is nearly equal.
Full Moon in February - Stephen Webber at the Brecon Beacons
Society news
Covid-19 restrictions remain in place for any local astronomical society meetings.
However, Dark Sky Wales has several free online events:
There are three opportunities to join Dark Skies Wales manager Allan Trow for ‘An Introduction to the Night Sky’ which includes a planetarium show:
- Friday, March 5: 6pm to 7pm;
- Wednesday, March 10: 6pm to 7pm;
- Friday, March 12: 7pm to 8pm.
Also in March: ‘Herschel – First Family of Astronomy’ – Tuesday, March 16: 7pm to 8pm.
To book your place at these free events visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/online/dark-sky-wales/
Send society news and astronomy photographs to: TheNightSky@themoon.co.uk
Moon phases
- Third quarter March 6;
- New Moon March 13;
- First quarter March 21;
- Full moon March 28.
Sunrise/sunset times
- Start of March: Sun rises at 6.56am. Sets at 5.52pm.
- End of March: Sun rises at 6.49am. Sets at 7.43 pm.
BST accounted for.
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