Sky & Telescope - March 2020 - 50

MARCH 2020 OBSERVING
Celestial Calendar

Like an
Extra Big
Pizza Pie
IF YOU'RE INTO THE MOON, you'll

see the biggest one of the year on the
night of March 9-10. That's because it
will be a full Moon that occurs close to
the time of lunar perigee, or when the
Moon is nearest the Earth. Full Moon
occurs at 17:48 UT on March 9th followed by perigee at 6h UT on March
10th. The Moon achieves a maximum
apparent diameter of 33′ 28″ in the wee
hours of the 10th.
Will it look larger than normal?
Possibly, if you're a careful observer.

Groovin'
with Euterpe
IF YOU LOVE MUSIC you're sure to be
inspired by the asteroid 27 Euterpe,
which comes to opposition on March
14th at magnitude 9.4. Named for the
Greek muse of music, Euterpe (yooTUR-pee) is a stony asteroid about 100
kilometers across residing in the main
asteroid belt. It's also the parent body of
the Euterpe family, a clan of more than
450 bodies that likely originated in an
asteroid collision and now share similar
orbital characteristics. As it inches
westward, Euterpe will be an easy catch
as it remains within 5° of 4th magnitude Nu (ν) Virginis all month.

50

MARCH 2 02 0 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

p PIE IN THE SKY March sees the largest
full Moon of the year. Remember to compare
March's full Moon with October's, when you'll
see the smallest full Moon of the year.

But there's one way to know for sure.
Take a picture. Then take another
picture on either October 1st or
October 31st, when the Moon will be
full again but close to apogee - farthest from the Earth - and only about
29′ 30″ across. The 4-arcminute difference will be startlingly obvious in
side-by-side photos.

Minima of Algol
Feb.
3
6
9
11
14
17
20
23
26
29

UT
8:31
5:21
2:10
22:59
19:49
16:38
13:27
10:17
7:06
3:55

Mar.
3
5
8
11
14
17
20
23
25
28
31

UT
0:45
21:34
18:23
15:13
12:02
8:51
5:40
2:30
23:19
20:08
16:57

These geocentric predictions are from the
recent heliocentric elements Min. = JD
2445641.554 + 2.867324E, where E is any
integer. For a comparison-star chart and
more info, see skyandtelescope.org/algol.

JUPITER RISES in the small hours of
the morning in February and March,
and it's high enough to observe in detail
an hour before sunrise.
Any telescope shows the four big
Galilean moons, and binoculars usually
show at least two or three. The moons
orbit Jupiter at different rates, changing positions along an almost straight
line from our point of view on Earth.
Use the diagram on the facing page to
identify them by their relative positions
on any given time and date.
All the March interactions between
Jupiter and its satellites and their shadows are on the facing page. Find events
timed for dawn twilight in your time
zone, when Jupiter is at its highest.
Features on Jupiter appear closer to
the central meridian than to the limb
for 50 minutes before and after transiting. Here are the times, in Universal
Time, when the Great Red Spot should
cross Jupiter's central meridian. The
dates, also in UT, are in bold. (Eastern
Standard Time is UT minus 5 hours.)
February 1: 1:59, 11:55, 21:51; 2:
7:47, 17:43; 3: 3:38, 13:34, 23:30; 4:
9:26, 19:22; 5: 5:17, 15:13; 6: 1:09,
11:05, 21:01; 7: 6:56, 16:52; 8: 2:48,
12:44, 22:39; 9: 8:35, 18:31; 10: 4:27,
14:23; 11: 0:18, 10:14, 20:10; 12: 6:06,
16:02; 13: 1:57, 11:53, 21:49; 14: 7:45,
17:40; 15: 3:36, 13:32, 23:28; 16: 9:24,
19:19; 17: 5:15, 15:11; 18: 1:07, 11:03,
20:58; 19: 6:54, 16:50; 20: 2:46, 12:41,
22:37; 21: 8:33, 18:29; 22: 4:24, 14:20;
23: 0:16, 10:12, 20:08; 24: 6:03, 15:59;
25: 1:55, 11:51, 21:46; 26: 7:42, 17:38;
27: 3:34, 13:29, 23:25; 28: 9:21, 19:17;
29: 5:12, 15:08
March 1: 1:04, 11:00, 20:56; 2: 6:51,
16:47; 3: 2:43, 12:39, 22:34; 4: 8:30,
18:26; 5: 4:22, 14:17; 6: 0:13, 10:09,
20:05; 7: 6:00, 15:56; 8: 1:52, 11:48,
21:43; 9: 7:39, 17:35; 10: 3:31, 13:26,
23:22; 11: 9:18, 19:14; 12: 5:09, 15:05;
13: 1:01, 10:56, 20:52; 14: 6:48, 16:44;
15: 2:39, 12:35, 22:31; 16: 8:27, 18:22;
17: 4:18, 14:14; 18: 0:10, 10:05, 20:01;
19: 5:57, 15:53; 20: 1:48, 11:44, 21:40;
21: 7:35, 17:31; 22: 3:27, 13:23, 23:18;
23: 9:14, 19:10; 24: 5:06, 15:01; 25:

BOB KING

Action at Jupiter
http://www.theskyscrapers.org/algol
Sky & Telescope - March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - March 2020
