Each year on a Saturday in March or April, the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association hosts a family fun event during national Astronomy Day. It is held at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park (3482 E River Rd @ Ramada 1)
3 – 9 pm
Interactive Astronomy Activities include:
Solar and Nighttime Observing
Door prizes to include a Grand Youth Prize of a Small Telescope
Bring your own telescope for help using (recommend arriving late afternoon during daylight)
Mercury is visible well at dusk until the 19th. It even sets past the end of astronomical twilight around the 11th, when it is at greatest elongation from the sun. Afterwards, it shows a small crescent in a telescope.
Venus is high up at sunset and sets more than three hours later. On the 10th, it is only 2 degrees from Pleiades, a nice sight in binoculars.
Mars is very hight at sunset. On the 14th it passes only 9 arc-minutes from third-magnitude star Mebsuta in Gemini. Then it aims for Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini.
Saturn is visible just before dawn in the southeast.
The first minor planet (1) Ceres is an easy binocular object near the tail of Leo.
The moon is close to bright Venus on the 22nd and 23rd and then even closer to Mars on the 25th. It causes a hybrid (total/annular) solar eclipse on the 20th, visible in and near Australia. The same evening it can be spotted with binoculars in Tucson in bright twilight, with Mercury nearby. The moon follows with an almost partial lunar eclipse at noon on May 5th. We are only one year away from the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 with more than 4 minutes of totality going from Mazatlan in Mexico through Texas to the Great Lakes.
Venus becomes brilliant at dusk. Venus passes Jupiter at 1/2 degree distance on March 1st. This should be a great sight
Jupiter is getting lower in the western sky and will be visible at dusk until March 29th.
Mars transits 83 degrees high, going from Taurus to Gemini. It still has an 11 arc-second diameter, great for observing its features in a telescope. But, by the end of March, it only will be 6 arc-seconds. Its magnitude decreases from 0 to 1.
Mercury finishes its morning visibility on February 18th and starts its evening visibility on March 26th.
Uranus can still be viewed at more then 70 degrees altitude in Aries, but it sets earlier and earlier as the month progresses.
Ceres has its opposition on March 21st at magnitude 7 in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
Pallas moves 50 degrees south of the ecliptic in Canis Major at Magnitude 8.
Comet ZTF is fast moving at 6 degrees/day from Auriga to Orion at Magnitude 6. Best on February 6th. It will fade to Magnitude 11 by the end of March.
Arizona Illustrated, a local PBS award winning program on Arizona events and sights of interest, did a segment on our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex (CAC) that aired January 22, 2023. It was recorded at our semi-annual Evening Under the Stars on October 29, 2022. The YouTube link to the segment is:
Venus is becoming a more obvious evening “star” since it sets past dusk by mid-month.
Saturn is higher in the southwest at dusk, but then gets passed by Venus on the 22nd at less than 0.4 degrees separation, the closest planet pair this year. The brightness difference of four magnitudes makes Saturn look unusually faint.
Jupiter follows higher with a transit (highest in the sky) just before sunset. On the 28th, Ganymede’s shadow is visible from sunset to 8:30 pm.
Uranus and Neptune are in the vicinity of Jupiter. Neptune is 8 degrees to the west of Jupiter, which is the current minimum. Uranus is 45 degrees to the east of Jupiter, but will get close to it this summer.
The month after a great occultation of Mars by the moon, we get another one with the same planet and very conveniently high in the evening sky. Mars will be occulted on the 30th from 9:44 to 10:51 pm, with the disappearance occurring at the dark limb so that the event is easy to watch naked eye. Disappearance and reappearance occurs gradually over some 15 seconds each time due to the 11 arc-second diameter of Mars. The reappearance is interesting to watch in a telescope.
Comet ZTF will get circumpolar at the end of the month and move at 6 degrees per day. Its brightness may peak at magnitude 5 at the last day of the month.
Saturn is still high in the southwest at dusk and sets late in the evening.
Jupiter follows higher with a transit at dusk and sets just past midnight. On the 15th, we can watch Ganymede’s shadow until 8:18 pm (MST). On the 22nd, Ganymede transits Jupiter’s disk until 7 pm with its shadow following starting at 9:44 pm. On the 29th, Ganymede transits from 8:11 to 11:07 pm. All these transits occur on Thursdays.
Mars reaches opposition on the 7th, at the same time as the Full Moon occurs. Furthermore the moon occults Mars! The event lasts from 7:32 to 8:27 pm, a great sight even with just your eyes. The disappearance and reappearance of Mars lasts almost a minute. Have your telescope ready for this rare event! Mars shows a polar cap and details on its surface quite well due to its 17 arc-seconds diameter.
Venus can be found in the southwest during early dusk.
Mercury joins Venus from the 6th to the 30th, to the upper left of Venus. The prettiest sight is on the 24th when the crescent moon is next to both planets.
Uranus is just past opposition and well placed almost all night.
Neptune is still observable during the first half of the night 6 degrees west of Jupiter.
Saturn transits 40 degrees high during dusk. Its rings are still open by 15 degrees, which will not happen again until 2028.
Jupiter rules the night, 40 degrees east of Saturn. It is so bright that it can cast shadows at a very dark site. On the evening of the 2nd and 9th, Ganymede’s large shadow wanders across Jupiter’s disk.
Mars is the bright orange “star” in the east during late evenings. Its rising times change from 8 pm at the beginning of the month to before 6 pm at the end. After the first week, it is even brighter than Sirius. Its disk reaches 17 arc-seconds diameter, which shows its surface details quite well in a telescope. On the 30th, Mars is closest to Earth. Its distance is better than at an average opposition, and its altitude in Tucson reaches 83 degrees. Hard to beat!
Venus will start its evening visibility in December, with good eyesight even during the last days of November.
Uranus comes into opposition on the 9th. At magnitude 5.6 and 74 degrees high in the sky at midnight, it is within reach of naked eye visibility if you know where to look.
Neptune is visible in binoculars 7 degrees to the west of Jupiter.
Vesta is as bright as Neptune, but 20 degrees to the southwest in Aquarius.
The Leonid meteor shower might have an intense outburst around 11 pm on the 17th. This is just when the radiant rises in Tucson, which means we would only see a few meteors grazing the atmosphere. If it lasts for an hour, when the radiant will be higher, we may be in for a treat.
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