Man Stargazing

Moon Phases

Eye on the Night Sky, March 18, 2024

Monday, March 18, 2024

Today:
Today marks the anniversary of the discovery of Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh was examining pictures taken through the telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona in January, 1930, over a period of days. One of the “stars” in the image moved while the stars remained in place, revealing the frozen world for the first time.

Tuesday:
The Vernal or Spring Equinox marks the calendar arrival of Spring late this evening at 11:06 PM EDT, when the Sun is positioned directly above the Earth’s equator. Although the word equinox means “equal night”, the atmosphere bends the sun’s light, shifting it slightly higher, adding several minutes to the daylight.

Wednesday:
The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, sparkles in the south as twilight fades by 8 o’clock, sliding into the southwest through the course of the evening, one of the first stars out as twilight fades. Its brilliance is due, in part to its relative closeness, only 8.6 light years away, as well as putting out about 25 times more light than our Sun.

This program is a partnership between the Fairbanks Museum and Vermont Public.