University Daily Kansan
Friday, February 29, 1980
3
March night skies bring new celestial configuration
4. ___
By DON MUNDAY
Staff Renorter
March evenings tend to bring out stargazers who stayed indoors during the winter because of frigid weather. Amateur astronomers will be rewarded in March with skies displaying four bright planets and celestial bodies of winter and spring constellations.
Mercury is the only one of the naked-planet roses visible this month, having already plunged into the solar glare after its brief February appearance.
The speedy little planet will reappear in early April but in a much less favorable position for observation.
ORION
The brilliant evening star, high above the western horizon at sunset, and setting itself around 9:4 p.m., is Venus. During March Venus increases in brightness from magnitude 3.6 to 3.5, making it by far the brightest star in the sky, except for the sun and moon.
Venus' dazzling radiance makes it easy to understand why many of the ancients were so enthusiastic about the century B.C. that someone figured out that the glistening morning and evening stars, Phosphorus and Hesperus, were really one star, while the latter was later given the Roman name Venus.
sua films
Friday & Saturday,
Feb. 29-Mar.1
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Dir. Alan J. Pakus, with Robert Redenbacher, Holfman, Jason Robbins, and John Brook. Jack Warden. The story of the investigation reports and brief information regarding the Watergate coverage. Plus "An American Time Cap."
Midnight Movies
THE ROCKY HORROP
PICTURE SHOW (1975)
Dir. Jim Sharman, Tim Curry,
Susan Sarandeh, Bostow
with a ticket.
Ellen Foley 'a short prom
uniting featuring Meat Loaf's
toner backup singer.
Sunday, March 2
BARRY LYNDON (1976) Dr. Stainley Kubrick, with Ryan O'Neal, Marissa Berenson, Patrick Wagner, and Michael Gansel who guardians through Europe from casinos to castles as a spy, a soldier, a wite-bachelor, and a gambler. Kubrick spent three years on this visually striking film. Music performed by the Cheftain.
Monday, March 3
THE LADY VANISHES
Dir. Alrild Hitchcock, with Dame Mary Whitty, Morgan Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood. Hitchcock's skillful blend of comedy, drama and mystery come together in this story of a dutty old man, penniless and on a transcontinental train.
Tuesday, March 4 Two Action Westerns:
WINCHERSTE "73 (1950) Dry. Dr. Sinclair Winters. Steward. Winters. Winters. Duryea. Excellent story of a prized rite and its many changes of owners
THE PROFESSIONALS
Dir. Richard Brooks, with Burt Lancaster, Lee Mavlin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Wody Strode, Four men, each a specialist in a form of magic, go to Mr. Ico and return a kindred woman to her wealthy husband.
Unless otherwise noted; all liters will be shown at Woodfort Auditorium in the Kansas Union; M-R Films are $1.00 and start at 7:30; late films are $1.50 and start at 8:45; and Midnight on Fri. & Sat, and at 2:00 on Sunday; tickets available at the SUA Office, Union 5th Level. A smoking or refreshments allowed.
AN INTERESTING formation will occur on March 19 when Venus will be near the waning crescent moon. By the end of the month Venus will be setting well after 10
Mars and Jupiter make up the bright pair of stars that peer out of the low eastern sky at 6.15 Jupiter is by far the brighter of Mars, and Mars is the reddish star to its left.
On March 2, Mars and Jupiter will be the second planet each other in an astronomical event called a conjunction. This conjunction will be the second of a series of three, spanning the course of several orbits.
After March 2, the two will seem to move apart but then close in on each other again for the third conjunction in early May, concluding their celestial do-si-do.
MARS DECREASES in brightness from magnitude -0.9 to -0.3 during March. Tamaroo night the moon will pass near Martian limb and disappear last amid the full moon's glare. The moon will brush by Mars again on March 27, but because of the moon will have become nearly fully ill.
Gleaming at magnitude -2, its brightest for the year, Jupiter is up all night until just midnight. It will be grazed by the full moon tomorrow, and on March 28 Jupiter and the star Regulus will appear.
Although not as bright as Venus is in the west, Jupiter still outshines all the night-time stars and its four bright moons can easily be seen through a small telescope.
BECAUSE THE planet will be up until Jupiter comes in early in the evening and then on before sunrise. During those few hours, the positions of the moons can change
At the beginning of the month, the planet Saturn rises shortly after sunset and reaches opposition on March 14. Opposition means the planet, the earth and the sun are
Saturn is in the constellation Virgo this month, as it will be all year except for a brief summer excursion into neighbor Saturn, after which it will creep back into Virgo.
Saturn will be on the opposite side of the heavens. On March 14 it will rise at sunset and be visible all night long.
Thus, when the sun is setting in the west.
Saturn is not as bright now as it normally would be because its rings are virtually parallel to our line of sight. On March 12
DESPITE THE apparent absence of the birds, Saturn will be brighter than most stars, visible as a yellow object at altitude 4.9 during March, its brightest for 1980.
on March 9, becoming new on March 10.
From then it will grow to first quarter on
March 23, becoming fall again on March 31.
Generally, the moon is full only once during a month, but the bury of February and the 31 days in March give it two full moons this year.
On March 3 the moon will block out Saturn, but the moon's brightness should under observation of the planet nearing the lunar disk. The same thing will happen on January 14, so the best planet-moon arrangement in Mars should be the Venus grazing of the moon.
Winter-weary Kansans may be bipoping that spring weather will prevail all of the time, but this year's spring here will begin until 5:10 a.m. on March 20. That day is the vernal equinox, when the sun's position changes.
they'll be exactly edge-on, and the disappearance of the highly reflective rings reduces the overall brightness of the planet.
The moon itself will be full tomorrow night, and will reach its third quarter phase
ALSO ON that day, the day and night are of almost equal duration, with the northern hemisphere from then on receiving more light than the experience of the southern, which receives less.
March viewing is not confined to planets and the moon, however. Many of the spring constellations are coming into view, while at night the winter constellations best winter ones are still above the horizon.
In the southern evening sky, the bright star Sirius marks the constellation Canis Major, also known as the Big Dog. Ower in this image has been identified and in the northeast oppose it is the constellation Cassiopeia, which has five stars forming a "W" or an "M" shape, stars in the southwest oppose it.
ORION IS in the southwest during the early part of March evenings. Three bright
stars make up the belt of the hunter, with two bright stars above representing arms and two below standing for legs.
Taurus, the bull, is almost gone from the hillside where he was born, by its red stardale Star Alba glowing in the southwest about an hour after sunset. Alba dwarfs Athena and perhaps only light 70 years a year.
One of the most identifiable constellations is the Sagittarius, an eastern horizon by the time darkness sets. Leo is especially easy to find this month, with Mars and Jupiter both positioned there.
To spot Leo, look for a group of stars forming a sickle shape. This sickle represents the lion's head, and the base of its neck is marked by the bright blush star Regulus.
FOLLOW REGULUS through Mars and Jupiter to find a triangle of stars, which represent the haunches of the crouched horse. If a sickle and a triangle don't seem to make up much of a lion, remember the ancients who used a sickle and had little ease to do at night than stargaze.
Around 10 p.m. at the first of the month, for a book a starring star in the east. This seems like a way to appear about equal to Regulus in magnitude, although it's actually a much smaller one.
far away from earth as Regulus is; light takes 220 years to travel from Spica to our solar system.
The KU Observatory on top of Lindley Hall is open every clear Friday evening for public viewing of the heavens.
Spica, however, is nearly three times as
This is a monthly astronomy column.
LEO
Friday & Saturday, Feb. 29-March 1
3:30, 7:00 & 9:50 pm
Woodruff Auditorium $1.50
—No refreshments allowed—
Last Week for Jazz at Paul Gray's Jazz Place (before we change to a private club)
Tonight and Saturday
Jay “Hootie” McShann . . . and . . . Claude "Fiddler" Williams
With an 8 piece all star Jazz Group!
Admission only $8.00
Call 843-2644 For Reservations
includes free beer, peanuts, popcorn and soft drinks
Friday only bring this ad in for
$1.00 off
Both nights additional $1.00 off for advance payment at University Music, 926 Mass
This is our last week in business!
926 Mass Upstairs
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