March 7: Stellar Diamonds
One of the most oddly beautiful objects in our galaxy is the Red
Rectangle, in the constellation Monoceros, which lines up south of
the Moon in mid-evening. In long-exposure pictures, it looks like
strings of orange and red yarn stretched across an X-shaped frame.
It is the expanding remains of a dying star.
By the University of Texas McDonald Observatory
March 7: Stellar Diamonds
One of the most oddly beautiful objects in our galaxy is the Red Rectangle, in the constellation Monoceros, which lines up south of the Moon in mid-evening. In long-exposure pictures, it looks like strings of orange and red yarn stretched across an X-shaped frame. It is the expanding remains of a dying star.
March 8: Owl Nebula
The Big Dipper stands low in the northeast in mid-evening. Through a good telescope, you might see a small object near the outside corner of the bowl: the Owl Nebula. It looks like a small disk with a few smudges, which makes the nebula resemble the face of an owl.
March 9: Moon and Company
The Moon is gliding through a region of the sky that’s just bursting with bright and beautiful sights this week. Tonight, the Moon lines up with the “twins” of Gemini, with the golden planet Saturn nearby. The whole array is high in the sky at nightfall, and sets in the wee hours of the morning.
March 10: Moon and Saturn
The Moon and the planet Saturn huddle close together tonight. They are well up in the east at nightfall, with golden Saturn just to the right of the Moon. They soar high overhead during the evening and set before dawn.
March 11: Moon, Saturn, and Regulus
This is a good night to watch the Moon. It’s in the sky most of the night, and almost its entire disk is in sunlight. It’s flanked by the bright golden planet Saturn, which is above it in early evening, and the star Regulus, which is below the Moon.
March 12: Moon and Regulus
Regulus, the “heart” of Leo, the lion, stands just a whisker to the upper right of the Moon as night falls this evening. It remains close to the Moon as they arc high across the south in late evening, and sets in the west before dawn.
March 13: Lunar Seas
The Moon is almost full this evening. On the northern half of the Moon’s lighted surface, look for several dark blue-grey blotches. Early skywatchers called them “seas” because they thought the blotches were bodies of water.
