Marshall's Night Sky This Week, 25th March to 31st March 2024

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Marshall's Night Sky This Week, 25th March to 31st March 2024

We are proud to present you with another edition of Marshall's night sky events this week! Welcome, we hope you find something of interest! Let us know in the replies if you did, we would love to hear about it! Let's get started by examining the highlights of the night sky this week, 25th March to 31st March 2024. As usual we will list the highlights and discuss a few. We hope you find this info useful and if you have anything you wish to discuss or add, please hit the "Reply" button below and let us know!

Please note that all images are from Stellarium, the link to the webpage is here: http://stellarium.org/ All other information is freely gathered from various websites, Apps, planetarium software and social media. We would encourage you to download and print your finder charts more specific to your location, the charts/graphics included are for basic guidance only. Many websites like Sky maps.com will allow you to download and print out a free planisphere for each month, link: https://www.skymaps.com/


Events

25th) - Full Moon tonight (exactly full at 7:oo a.m. UCT Monday morning the 25th). The Moon rises due east around sunset. A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place early this morning. Two sunspots erupted at once on March 23rd, producing a powerful X1-class solar flare. A bright halo CME is now heading for Earth. Models suggest it could reach our planet during the early hours of this morning bringing a chance of strong geomagnetic storms and mid-latitude auroras.
26th) - Zodiacal light visible in Northern Latitudes in the west after evening twilight for next two weeks.
27th) - Jupiter’s moon Io transit and shadow transit at 13:40 UTC
28th) - Jupiter’s Great Red Spot will cross the meridian of the planet at 1pm UCT
29th) - Last good chance this Spring/Summer to catch Algol in eclipse. It will be at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for an hour either side of 10:50 p.m. UTC.
30th) - Comet Pons-Brooks passes within 0.5° of Hamel in Aries.
31st) -


PLANETS

Mercury
Mercury is visible in the evening this week about 45 to 60 minutes after sunset, look for it almost due west below Jupiter. It will fade this week from –0.4 to +1.0. Mercury was at greatest eastern elongation last week so still a good time to observe.

Venus
Venus rises just before Sunrise at magnitude –3.8.

Mars
Mars rises at magnitude +1.2, in the southeast after dawn and will be difficult to view. It's about 16° upper right of Venus.

Jupiter
Jupiter is magnitude –2.1 in Aries this week in the west at twilight and sets around 10 or 11 p.m.

Saturn
Saturn is very challenging at magnitude +1.1 to the right of Venus at dawn. Separation widens from 2° to 9° this week.

Uranus
Uranus is magnitude 5.8 in Aries, at 4° or 5° above Jupiter

Neptune
Neptune is lost in conjunction with the Sun.


COMETS


12P/Pons-Brooks
This 6th magnitude comet is only visible to the Northern Hemisphere in Pisces. This comet can be found as it leaves the constellation Andromeda heading for the constellation Pisces. It is now within reach of binoculars and is still brightening. Peak magnitude will be 21st April.
This comet was first discovered by Jean-Louis Pons on July 12 1812. It has an orbital period of 71.32 years, this is a must see!
We have seen some stunning photos of this comet! Please post yours here on the forums for us to marvel over.

C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)
This is now a 7th magnitude object in Aquila and fading. Astro photographers are wanted to photograph and submit the images for scientific use regarding the solar wind. If you can help then the following link has all the info, happy comet hunting! https://petapixel.com/2024/02/21/astrop ... oken-tail/

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
At 11.5 magnitude in Virgo and brightening. Will peak in October at a possible -18.
Discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory on 9 January 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on 22 February 2023. The comet will pass perihelion at a distance of 0.39 AU on 27 September 2024 when it could become visible to the naked eye.

SPACE LAUNCHES

25th) March Falcon 9. Starlink 6-46. 5 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on the droneship ‘A Short Fall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean.

26th) March Chinese Long March 6 . 23:10 UTC.
Launch site: LC-9A, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, China
16th mission

28th March. Delta 4-Heavy. NROL-70.
Launch site: SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket will launch a classified spy satellite cargo for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The largest of the Delta 4 family, the Heavy version features three Common Booster Cores mounted together to form a triple-body rocket. This is the final flight of a Delta 4 rocket.


International Space Station

We highly recommend using "Spot the station" from NASA to find out when the International Space station will be passing over your location. This is a fun object to see flying high above, try using binoculars here, lot's of fun!

For the HAM radio enthusiasts among you, please keep a eye on the ARISS website for upcoming contacts or SSTV broadcasts for when the International Space Station is within range. There are several HAMS on board the ISS, they should have a busy radio schedule coming up. AMSAT are another great resource in this regard.