Starwatch Newsletter Minnesota Starwatch is a tape-recorded message describing the night sky in the Midwest, which can be called by telelphone number (612) 624-2001 It is updated montly, and is produced by the Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

At the beginning of the month, the hourglass shaped constellation of Orion (The Hunter) will be just west of the meridian by 8PM. The fuzzy patch below the three bright stars across the center of the hourglass that define Orion's belt is Messier 42, one of the most active star formation regions in our Galaxy. M42 is spectacular when viewed through small telescope or binoculars. You should be able to pick out the four hot young stars of the Trapezium, surrounded by a large greenish gaseous nebula. Three more hot young stars can be seen just to the southeast of the Trapezium. The Pleiades (The Seven Sisters), a young star cluster with seven bright members, will be setting in the Northwest. This young open star cluster is another excellent viewing target for binoculars or a small telescope. The red giant star Betelgeuse, which defines the northeast corner of the Orion hourglass, is a swelled-up star called a red supergiant. This is a phase that massive stars enter when they exhaust the hydrogen fuel that sustains their heat during most of their lifetime. When Betelgeuse reaches the end of its supergiant phase, sometime within the next few million years, earthlings will be treated to a spectacular sight as it erupts in a supernova explosion. The explosion, caused by the rapid gravitational collapse of the fuel-exhausted core, will cause Betelgeuse to become 10 billion times as luminous as the sun, and even at earth it will approach the full moon in brightness! Within a year, the ejected shell will be big enough to be seen easily with a small telescope, and the explosion will be seen reflected off the nearby Orion dust clouds for many years. Of course, since Betelgeuse is 540 light years away, the explosion will not be seen on earth until the year 2543 even if it were to happen tomorrow!

This month will be perfect for observing the huge gas giant planets Saturn and Jupiter. By 10 PM, Saturn will be in the southwest and Jupiter will lie straight to the south, and both are only a little past their peak brightness for the year. Because Saturn is at quadrature and therefore casting its shadow well onto the rings, it will look much more three-dimensional than usual. Of course, the endless dance of the four bright Galilean moons as they orbit Jupiter will provide an interesting spectacle for those whose observe the planet regularly. Mars, the Red Planet, rises early in the morning and will pass through Sagittarius as it brightens during the month. Brilliant Venus, this month forty time brighter than the brightest star, will be a prominent morning star by the end of the month. Mercury, at superior conjunction on March 21, will be too close to the sun to observe. The Virginid meteor showers, though not particularly high in activity, will be favored by a new moon and a dark sky early in March. New moon falls on March third. These meteors have several peaks during the period from early March through early April.

Friday night telescope viewing begins at 8:00 pm. Please call 612/626-0034 for more information.

For those interested in the Minnesota Astronomical Society, call 651/649-4861 for information their upcoming events.

Minnesota Starwatch is available on-line at http://www.astro.umn.edu/Outreach/pub_out.html For fun Astronomy Outreach programs or how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612.630.6151 or visit www.mplanetarium.org.

Also, shows are now playing publicly at the Como Planetarium on a limited basis, please call 651-293-5398 for more info! This has been Minnesota Starwatch, produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department in cooperation with WCCO Weather Center.

Last Updated: Fri Feb 28 12:49:10 2003