This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2023 April 1 – April 8~

The constellation Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s Hair, is midway up in the eastern sky at 10 pm this week, between the tail of Leo the Lion and kite-shaped Boötes. It is the only constellation with a mythological tale based on a real person. In the fourth century BCE, King Ptolemy Soter of Egypt went to war against Assyria. His worried wife Berenice made a vow to the goddess Aphrodite that she would sacrifice her beautiful locks if he returned safely. He did return and she kept her vow against his wishes. When he visited the temple the next day he discovered the hair had been stolen, and he threatened to kill the temple priests. The court astronomer claimed that Zeus had taken the hair and placed it in the sky for all to admire, and that night he showed Ptolemy a cluster of stars.

That cluster was the Coma Star Cluster, also called Melotte 111, which can be seen with the naked eye in rural areas and it fills the field of view in binoculars. At one time it was considered to be the tuft of Leo’s tail. The area of sky encompassed by Coma Berenices and its surrounding constellations is called the Realm of the Galaxies. The galactic North Pole lies within this constellation, perpendicular to the dusty disc of our Milky Way Galaxy. When we look in this direction the paucity of interstellar dust allows us to see deeper into space and observe other galaxies tens of millions of light years away. This relatively small constellation contains eight of the 110 Messier objects within its borders, including globular cluster M53 and M64, the Black Eye Galaxy.

This Week in the Solar System

Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:59 am and sunset will occur at 7:47 pm, giving 12 hours, 48 minutes of daylight (7:05 am and 7:51 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:46 am and set at 7:56 pm, giving 13 hours, 10 minutes of daylight (6:52 am and 8:00 pm in Saint John).

The Paschal Full Moon occurs on Thursday, leading into the Easter weekend. On Saturday Mercury sets around 9:10 pm, followed by Venus two hours later. Uranus will be within a binocular view below Venus this Saturday with two stars of equal brightness to its upper right. Jupiter is getting lost in twilight as it nears conjunction with the Sun on April 11. Over the week Mars slides up the lag of the mortal twin Castor in Gemini. Saturn rises in the morning sky around 5:50 this weekend,

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on April 1 at 7 pm. All are welcome. On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason