Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 6 March 2024 17:00

Monday 11th to Sunday 17th March 2024

I'm going to focus (no pun intended) on the Moon and other targets in the night sky that will appear close to it during the coming week.

Firstly, about half an hour after sunset on Monday 11th, it may be possible to just see a faint 2%-lit Crescent Moon with a magnitude -1.2 planet Mercury a little to the right and below it. If you are outside around 6.15pm, the pair will be located towards the west horizon.

At the same time, a bit higher and to the left of the Moon will be planet Jupiter shining brightly at a magnitude of -2.0

If instead you look towards the west around 9pm on Wednesday 13th, the Moon will be a 16%-lit crescent by then and Jupiter will appear to be very close to it. Above them will be the Pleiades open cluster of stars, with the constellation of Orion further to the left.

Try the same trick again at the same time the following evening, on Thursday 14th and the Moon will appear to be closer to the Pleiades. This is because the Moon is very close to us in astronomical terms and is orbiting around the Earth, while everything else in the night sky is much further away and only appears to move because WE are moving! By Thursday the Moon will be a 26%-lit crescent as it heads towards a "first quarter" phase that I talked about last week.

Finally, around 9pm on Saturday 16th, the Moon will again be located towards the west, but much higher in the sky and now it will be a 46%-lit crescent - almost a first quarter. Immediately above it, try to spot the star Elnath which is the beta star in the constellation of Taurus. It will have a magnitude of around +1.6 while below it (and a much easier target) will be the alpha star in Taurus, Aldebaran.