Astronomy Events March 2011
March 5th 2011 09:52
Category: Nebulas
Messier 78 : NASA image
Time GMT
Some astronomical events you may be interested in.
March 19 - Full Moon. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth.
(You can access further information in my previous blog Here)
This phase occurs at 18:10 UTC. This particular full moon has special significance to early Native American tribes. This will also be the largest full moon of the year because it will be near perigee, its closest point to the Earth.
March 20 - March Equinox. The March vernal equinox occurs at 23:21 UTC. The Sun will can be seen directly over the equator and there will almost equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. Just so happens to be the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the southern hemisphere.
Cosmic Feature Object for March is Messier 78
There are some very beautiful celestial objects in the night sky there are many fine examples, one of my Favorites is perhaps Messier 78.
Messier 78 is a fine example of a reflection nebula. The pale blue hue seen in the nebula in this picture is an accurate representation of its dominant colour.
Messier 78 is bright enough to be seen with a small telescope.
Located about 1350 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) and can be found northeast of the easternmost star of Orion's belt.
The ultraviolet radiation from the stars that illuminate it is not intense enough to ionise the gas to make it glow in it’s own right. The dust particles simply reflect the starlight that falls on them.
Messier 78 can easily be observed with a small telescope, being one of the brightest reflection nebulae in the sky. It lies about 1350 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) and can be found northeast of the easternmost star of Orion's belt.
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