Friday, March 19, 2010

Equinox Sky Show

March 19, 2010: When the sun sets on Saturday, March 20th, a special kind of night will fall across the Earth. It's an equal night.
Or as an astronomer would say, "it's an equinox." It's the date when the sun crosses the celestial equator heading north. Spring begins in one hemisphere, autumn in the other. The day and night are of approximately equal length.
To celebrate the occasion, Nature is providing a sky show.
It begins as soon as the sky grows dark. The Moon materializes first, a fat crescent hanging about a third of the way up the western sky. Wait until the twilight blue fades completely black and you will see that the Moon is not alone. The Pleiades are there as well. The Moon and the Pleiades are having a close encounter of rare beauty.
Read more here

No comments: