LISTEN to this week’s Sky Report

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through March 19, 2020. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.

Venus, currently the brightest object in the western sky after sunset, continues to brighten and appear higher in the sky night by night. Through a telescope, Venus shows a gibbous phase, only slightly more than half illuminated.

When darkness falls at 8:20 p.m., notice the position of the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation Taurus the Bull with respect to Venus. The Pleiades cluster looks light a tiny “dipper” shaped group of seven stars, although it should not be confused with the Little Dipper, the nickname of the constellation Ursa Minor the Small Bear. On the 12th, you should find it easy to spot the Pleiades above Venus––about twice as high in the sky as the planet––at nightfall. If you look at the same time on following nights, you will see that the Pleiades will look noticeably closer to Venus than on the previous night. Venus will meet the edge of the Pleiades on April 3.

The Pleiades––the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology––is a true swarm of young stars, called an open star cluster, that is located 440 light years away. To get some feeling for this distance, note that the brightest star of the cluster, Alcyone, is about 1,000 time brighter than the sun would be when seen from the same distance! Binoculars can reveal dozens of stars that are too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, and telescopes will raise the number of visible members to over 100.

An eye-catching trio composed of the outer planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, is well positioned for viewing above the southeast horizon at 6:15 a.m. Jupiter is the brightest of these planets. Saturn is about eight degrees to the lower left of Jupiter. On the 12th, Mars is less than five degrees to the upper right of Jupiter. It looks noticeably closer to the brilliant planet on subsequent mornings, until, on the 19th, Mars is less than a degree to the lower right of Jupiter. Adding to the beauty of this grouping, the waning crescent moon is attractively posed to the right of the planets on the 17th, and is beneath the grouping on the 18th, then is to the right of the trio of planets on the 20th.

The International Space Station will sail through the sky above Los Angeles on Saturday morning, the 14th, and on Tuesday evening, the 17th. On the 14th, the ISS should first be seen at 5:57 a.m., at the moment it moves out of the Earth’s shadow into sunlight when it is 27 degrees above the west-northwest horizon. Just seconds before 5:59 a.m., the ISS is at its highest point in the sky, 54 degrees above the southwest horizon. The space station can be followed for another three minutes as it approaches the south-southeast horizon. On the 17th, the ISS makes an appearance above the south-southwest horizon starting at 8:13 p.m. At 8:17, the ISS reaches its highest point, 55 degrees above the southeast horizon. A minute later, it is hidden from the sun in Earth’s shadow and vanishes while 39 degrees above the eastern horizon. Use binoculars to watch the orange tint of the setting sun glint off the space station as it fades from view.

In the best interest of our visitors, to help limit the possible spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Griffith Observatory is closed until further notice. As a consequence, all public telescopes are closed, and the March 28 public star party has been cancelled. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Follow The Sky Report, All Space Considered, and Griffith Observatory on Twitter for updates on astronomy and space-related events.

From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.