THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Enjoy views of the bright star Regulus in the northern sky and deep-sky targets in Vela, the Sails
When to use this chart
1 Mar at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) 15 Mar at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 31 Feb at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT)
The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is different at other times as the stars crossing it set four minutes earlier each night.
MARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Mercury reaches greatest elongation west of the Sun on the 6th and is furthest from the Sun (by angular distance) in the morning – rising 30 minutes before dawn. March mornings are favourable for observing such events – or any planets in the dawn glow – from the Southern Hemisphere. This is when the ecliptic (the path of the Sun and planets) makes the steepest angle with the horizon, so Mercury achieves a maximum altitude for each degree from the Sun.
STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS The bright star Regulus (Alpha
(a) Leonis) is quite isolated in the northern evening sky. This Latin name means ‘Little King’, which is quite appropriate, as its the alpha luminary to the constellation of the king of the beasts, Leo, the Lion. Being the closest first magnitude star to the ecliptic it is often involved in rare planetary occultations; Venus occulted Regulus in 1959 and the same celestial bodies are involved in the next in 2044.
THE PLANETS
The early evening sky belongs to Uranus and Mars, with both setting at 22:00. Mars is low in the northwest at a similar brightness to nearby first magnitude star Aldebaran (Alpha (a) Tauri). The night sky is then devoid of planets until Saturn arrives (at 03:00 midmonth), with Jupiter less than an hour later. Mercury is favourable, low in the eastern sky at dawn’s start. As Jupiter returns to the morning it passes this inner world, being closest on the 5th and separated by 0.5°.
DEEP-SKY OBJECTS
At the western end of the sails of the ship Argo in the constellation of Vela, the Sails, lies the famous multiple star, Gamma (g) Velorum. There are many other doubles nearby also deserving recognition. One bright example is Dunlop 70 (RA 8h 29.5m, dec. -44° 44’). Lying 4° southeast from Gamma Velorum, it consists of blue and yellow stars (mag. +5.2 and mag. +6.9 respectively), separated by 4.8 arcseconds.
Close to the ‘False Cross’ asterism are a number of open star clusters. A great example is NGC 2910 (RA 9h 30.5m, dec. -52° 55’). Located 2.4° northeast from the bright star Kappa (k) Velorum, this small cluster is composed of around 40 stars (mag. +10 to mag. +12) that are arranged in a crescent shape. Being surrounded by an impressive rich star field, the cluster can be hard to spot at first – enjoy finding it!