2019 Week 11: (March 10-March 16)

This week in the sky we have some conjunctions with the waxing crescent Moon.  Also, you have to check out the amazing public lecture next week!  It is completely free and well worth attending!

Date	Event
March 11	Mars 6°S of Moon
March 13	Aldebaran 1.9°S of Moon
March 14	First Quarter
March 14	Mercury at inferior conjunction

Mars is starting to getting much lower in the western sky as it slowly makes its way to solar conjunction in September.  At magnitude 1.3 it is not an impressive sight in the sky as it was last Summer.  The Moon will pair up with Mars on the 11th as it undercuts it by 6°.

Mars

The next night you will be able to catch the Moon cruising by the bright red star, Aldebaran which forms the eye of Taurus the bull.  The Moon will then reach First Quarter on March 14 and be worth a look through the telescope as you can make out many great features that intersect with the terminator.

The smallest planet, Mercury will pass between the Earth and the Sun as it reaches inferior conjunction the same evening.

There will be four rocket launches occurring this week.  The schedule is shown below and all launches can be watched live from: https://spaceflightnow.com/

Date	Event
March 14	Soyuz - IS-58S (13:14)
March 14	Vega - PRISMA (18:50)
March 15	Delta 4 - WGS10 (16:56)
March 15	Electron - R3D2 (16:30)

A Soyuz rocket will be taking off Baikonur Cosmodrome on the 14th carrying the next crew for the International Space Station.  Several other satellites will be launched and may be worth checking it out.

On March 21 at the University of Calgary the Royal Astronomical Society is hosting astronomy journalist Fraser Cain.  He will be discussing the Golden Age of Astronomy and highlighting the many research projects happening around the world.

We will also have a live video conference with the control room of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, one of the foremost research telescopes in the world.

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope

For more information follow the link below.  It is open to everyone and all ages!

https://www.facebook.com/events/2211662482419661/

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https://www.facebook.com/simonjastronomy/