NATIONAL NEWS - The month starts with a waning gibbous Moon with the new Moon following on the 9th, with the first crescent becoming visible the following evening.
On the 23rd is the spring equinox, Latin for "equal night", when the length of the day is the same as the length of the night. Because it is "equal night", one might expect that the length of day and night should be equally 12 hours.
Instead daylight lasts for an extra 8 minutes due to the size of the Sun and the bending of light (refraction): the actual 12-hour day occurs on the 19th!
Some regard the spring equinox as the beginning of spring, while others say that 1 September marks the beginning of spring. I won't enter this debate, but it is the time of the year when the days are getting longer most rapidly in the southern hemisphere.
Careful observers will also notice that the Sun rises to the south of east and sets to the south of west from now on. However, this equinox does mark the end of the southern winter half of the year, lasting 186,4 days and the start of the northern winter half of the year, lasting 178,8 days. The colder half of the year lasts about 7 ½ days longer for us because the Earth's orbit is not circular (but elliptical – slightly egg-shaped) and the Earth travels more slowly at this part of its orbit.
Four of the 5 naked-eye planets are visible in the evening sky and once again the Moon becomes a great planet locator! On the 12th the unmistakably bright Venus, with the bright star Spica in close attendance, will be close to a waxing crescent Moon.
On the 13th and 14th, a slightly brighter Moon will pass by Jupiter, followed by Saturn on the 17th. Finally, Mars will be close to a now waxing gibbous Moon.
Low above the northern horizon is the bright star Vega, and below is the bright star Arcturus in the constellation of Bootes, the Herdsman. To the southeast the Pointers and the Southern Cross are high up in the sky early evening. This grouping is circumpolar, meaning that they are visible all year round in the southern skies from our latitude.
By 23:30 they are low above the horizon. Besides being a beautiful constellation, it is worthwhile to track its course throughout the year and see this grouping make its circular path around the celestial south pole (the imaginary point where the long axis of the cross and the bisector of the Pointers meet).
The remotest object visible to the naked eye, the Andromeda Galaxy, is now best seen low in the northern sky at around 03:00 at the beginning of the month. It is still visible at around 05:00, but much lower above the north-western horizon.
The morning sky as a whole is now becoming really quite spectacular, with Orion dominating the north-eastern sky, its symmetry making it quite unmistakable.
The twins in Gemini, Castor and Pollux, can be seen low above the horizon below Orion. Betelgeuse, the red super-giant star, is visible to the lower right of Orion, making an equilateral triangle with the very bright stars Sirius and Procyon; known as the Great Southern Triangle.
The Seven Sisters, Pleiades or isiLimela, visible to the west (left) of Orion with the open cluster of the Hyades, and the red giant star Aldebaran between them, will be joined by a waning gibbous Moon on the 30th.
Comer21P/Giacobini-Zinner is visible just below Betelgeuse- a grand way to start the day!
Article: Case Rijsdijk
