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Ephemeris: 03/07/2024 – There’s a unicorn in there somewhere

March 7, 2024 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, March 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 6:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:06. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:35 tomorrow morning.

The constellation of Monoceros the unicorn is located in an area of sky to the left of Orion so it’s in the south at 8 pm, inside the Winter Triangle of stars, Betelgeuse in Orion; Sirius in the Great Dog, Canis Major; and Procyon in Canis Minor. If you don’t see anything there, it’s OK. Nobody sees real unicorns any more anyway. Are there any real unicorns? Anyway, there’s a great number of nebulae here in the Milky Way that runs through it, which unfortunately are too faint to be seen with amateur telescopes. However, it is a gold mine for amateur astronomers who are also astrophotographers using time exposures to record the faint nebulae here, including the famous Rosette Nebula!

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

I call this my Monoceros the unicorn non finder animation, showing first just the stars as they’re seen in the sky then the boundary of Monoceros as determined by the International Astronomical Union. As you can see there’s not many naked eye stars in there. Then lines connecting the stars from Stellarium and finally the artist’s rendition of the Unicorn. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
The Rosette Nebula photographed by Dan Dall'Olmo
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2244, is an accurate description of this nebula. The stars in the center cause the hydrogen gases to glow red. The hottest and brightest young stars give off ultraviolet light which causes the gases to fluoresce. Also, the stellar winds from these stars blows away gases from the center, so star formation stops. Leaving a beautiful rosette in the sky. Unfortunately it’s too faint to see with the telescope visually, however it is a wonderful target for astrophotographers. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Credit: Dan Dall’Olmo, a member of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society.
Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: , , , , , , , , ,