 |
| The new moon occurs on March
1, the day of our star party, so we can expect the sky to be quite dark.
The chart shows the southwestern sky at 8:00 PM on March 1. The lower boundary of the chart is 10 deg above the horizon. Thus, Comet Kudo-Fujikawa is about 12 deg above the horizon, considerably farther than it appears on the chart. We will try to get a look at the comet. However, the comet is fairly close to the sun, and the sky will not be entirely dark surrounding the comet until it gets very close to the horizon, so we can’t offer any guarantee of a good look. Saturn is well placed near the top of the chart, about 80 deg above the horizon, shining at 0.0 magnitude. That magnitude might suggest no brightness at all, but that is not the case. Zero mag is quite bright, and negative mags are even brighter. Jupiter, at -2.5 mag, is about 45 deg above the eastern horizon, sailing along with its retinue of four moons, visi-ble in amateur scopes. Galileo discovered those moons in 1610, using a poor-quality 1-inch scope. Within a night or two, Galileo came to understand what he had seen. |
You can print a copy of this star chart so you can take it outside.
|
|
|
|