Bert Stewart – 3RF Educational Specialist

For the first time since October 27, 2004, the world can observe a total lunar eclipse on the evening of March 3. While the spectacular event can be observed in entirety from Europe, Africa and the Middle East; observers in Texas can see the very end of the eclipse immediately following sunset as the moon rises in the east. The eclipsed moon reflects a dark red wavelength of light instead of the usual white light. The color change is caused by the light filtering effect of Earth’s atmosphere as the moon hides from the Sun in the shadow of Earth.

Two very bright objects rise together in the East during the early part of March. The brighter of the two is Saturn accompanied by Regulus. The latter is in the constellation Leo and is 77 light years away from Earth (452,654,153,735,137.97 miles). How can an object so far away be so bright? Well, Regulus happens to be three and a half times bigger than the Sun. In other words, you could put 3.5 million planets the size of Earth inside the star Regulus. That is one big nuclear furnace!

As the month progresses towards the vernal equinox, Jupiter will rise around twelve o’clock midnight, followed by Mercury and Mars in the morning. Wait, Vernal what? The Vernal equinox refers to a special “mile marker” in our journey around the Sun. You may recall that we are cruising around the Sun along an elliptical road. All the while, we are spinning on our axis that is slightly tilted. Depending on where we are in our journey, either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun resulting in our seasons. The Vernal equinox denotes the day when the Sun is directly above the equator. Therefore, it marks the transition period between the Southern Hemisphere leaning toward the Sun to the Northern Hemisphere leaning toward the Sun. Theoretically, this is the middle of spring. Did you know that Texas is closer to the sun during the winter than it is during the summer?

If you ever get lost in the Universe and need directions, feel free to contact Three Rivers Foundation (3RF). 3RF works to increase science awareness to students and the general public. If you would like additional information about programs at Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus, contact: www.3rf.org or call 940-684-1670.