Mars
If you have never seen Mars, here’s your chance as it’s the only planet visible for most of the evening sky this month.
You don’t need a telescope to see Mars and with the naked eye it is unmistakeable. You just need to know where to look! At the end of the month at about 10pm Mars will be very close to the Pleiades in the North West over towards Skipton. It has an unmistakeable red hue and although not at its closest to Earth at the moment, it still shines very brightly in the night sky.
The reason for the change in its relative size is its distance from the Earth as both Earth and Mars complete their orbits. Mars is always best viewed about every two years (its orbit takes twice as long as the Earth) and that is when we are on the same side of the sun. 2020 will be the next best time but don’t let that stop you looking out for it now as it will be gone from view soon as it swings behind the sun.
When Mars is at its best, viewing with binoculars and a very steady hand, it is possible to make out fuzzy patterns and white blotches at different times of the year. Through a telescope, these blurs resolve into ice-caps at certain times and at others a sand storm covers the whole surface in an impenetrable barrier that renders the planet a dull characterless blob of red.
It is unbelievable that one day we may have a settlement or base on Mars. I can remember when we had barely ventured into space. Yet we have had ‘Rovers’ (small vehicles), operated remotely, exploring its surface for over 8 years drilling, sampling and transmitting back what has been discovered. Currently, we have no evidence that life existed or indeed exists there today but it once had a great deal of water that is evidenced by erosion. There are scientific instruments planned to be placed on Mars soon that may prove that life once existed there
The Leo Triplet
It is pretty much beyond our imagination to contemplate the 100,000 stars in our galaxy, particularly when all we see of it is a band across our sky at certain times of the year. Of course this is just a small part of our Milky Way looking outwards into space. So when I view another galaxy like our own I imagine this is what we must look like from out there in space. Of course depending on the angle we would be perceived from, we might be seen as a Catherine Wheel disc or even just a long smudge, if viewed edge on. That’s why The Leo Triplet is one of my favourite targets because in just one view it gives us three galaxies (a triplet) all together tilted at different angles, in a similar way to how we could be viewed from deep space. I’m not going to fool you into thinking it is possible to see the Leo Triplet with your naked eye but it is just about possible with a steady hand and binoculars at this time of year. Three beautiful spiral galaxies grouped together. The three are all gravitationally interactive and this can be seen by distortions on these perfectly formed discs. The Leo Triplet can be found as you would imagine in the constellation of Leo. The galaxy seen edge on is called NGC 3628, the other two M65 and M66, the latter being the brightest and is roughly the same size as our own Milky Way. The gravitational effects of the other two have pushed much of its mass towards the centre of the galaxy.
Whenever I observe The Leo Triplet I have mixed feelings. The very first time I took this image I was in a field in Galloway sleeping in a bothy. As it was a late session, I left my equipment outside only to find in the morning my trusty telescope had been blown over in a gale and had completely smashed beyond repair. Gutted….
British Summer Time begins 31st March 1am so clocks forward 1hr! Where did all of those long nights go?
Milan Davidovic
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