This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 March 19 – 26 ~by Curt Nason
I regard Leo the Lion as the signature constellation of spring, and it is not difficult to picture a lion in its distinctive pair of asterisms. A backwards question mark or a sickle represents its chest and mane, anchored by the bright star Regulus at its heart or front leg. To the east a triangle of stars forms the back leg and tail. Originally, a faint naked-eye cluster of stars represented a tuft at the end of the tail, but that now makes the tresses of the constellation Coma Berenices.
In mythology, the lion was a vicious creature that resided in the mountains of Nemea. Its hide was impenetrable to spears or arrows; the only thing sharp enough to penetrate the lion’s hide was its claws. The first of Hercules’s twelve labours was to kill this creature, which the legendary strongman did by strangulation. He then used the claws to cut off the lion’s hide for use as a shield. A friend of mine sees this constellation as a mouse, with the triangle as its head and the sickle as its tail. However, legends are not made by having a muscular demigod battle a mouse.
Amateur astronomers often point their telescopes at Leo for two trios of galaxies; one under the belly and the other by the back leg. Each trio can fit within the view through a wide-field telescope eyepiece. Five of the six galaxies are listed in the Messier catalogue of fuzzy objects that could be mistaken for comets.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:24 am and sunset will occur at 7:20 pm, giving 12 hours, 6 minutes of daylight (7:29 am and 7:35 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:10 am and set at 7:39 pm, giving 12 hours, 29 minutes of daylight (7:15 am and 7:44 pm in Saint John). On Sunday at 12:33 pm the Sun stands over the equator and spring is sprung in New Brunswick.
The Moon is at third quarter next Friday, rising at 3:40 am and setting just before noon. Venus is at greatest elongation from the Sun on Sunday, rising around 5:30 just ahead of Mars and 20 minutes ahead of Saturn. Mercury is near Jupiter on Monday, a difficult sighting with binoculars in bright twilight. Over the next two weeks rural observers might see the subtle wedge of zodiacal light engulfing Venus and its neighbours about an hour before sunrise.
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.