macpuzlBy Chuck McPartlin
The International Space Station will be making a few visible passes through Santa Barbara’s evening skies in the next week, if the sky is clear. Its orbit may change from time to time, so to get the latest and most complete predictions, visit Heavens Above.
On Monday, March 15, the ISS will make a low pass over our ocean horizon, starting at 7:54 PM PDT in the SSE near Canopus, and ending in the ESE at 7:56 PM in dim Hydra. Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky, and just barely peeks above our southern horizon in the Spring, below Sirius, the brightest star. Hydra is dim, but it is the largest constellation.
Tuesday’s pass will be the brightest of this sequence, rising at 8:41 PM in the SW, in Eridanus, and passing overhead between Orion and Taurus to fade away in the Earth’s shadow near the heads of Gemini at 8:44 PM in the WNW.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the ISS will show up in the SSW at 7:54 PM in Eridanus, pass close to Sirius, across Hydra, and through the Sickle of Leo to set in the ENE at 8 PM in Canes Venatici. It will appear again at 9:32 PM in the WNW for a short pass below the Moon and into the feet of Andromeda, where it will vanish at 9:33 PM in the NW.
Thursday’s pass will be longer and higher, starting at 8:43 PM in the W, and passing through Cassiopeia and Cepheus to fade away in Draco in the N below the Little Dipper at 8:48 PM.
On Friday, it will be even higher, appearing at 7:56 PM in the WSW in Cetus, cruising our western horizon through Aries, and disappearing in the NE as it nears Polaris at 8:02 PM.
On Saturday, the Vernal Equinox, the ISS will make a very low pass skimming our mountain horizon from below Aries to Draco, from the NW to the N, starting at 8:47 PM, and ending three minutes later.
The end of this sequence will be on Sunday, when the station will repeat that trajectory a bit higher, starting in the WNW at 7:58 PM, and ending in the NNE at 8:03 PM.
The ISS will return on March 30.
March Sky
March comes in like a Lion, and goes out like a Lamb. In many places, that’s a reference to the unstable weather in Spring. Here in Santa Barbara, where the weather rarely goes to extremes, we can look to the night sky. Leo is rising in the East, and Aries is setting.
With the ecliptic more nearly perpendicular to our horizon as the Spring Equinox arrives (2:37 AM PDT on March 20 for us), now is the time to look for the pyramid of zodiacal light in the west as evening twilight ends. This is light being scattered by small dust particles in the plane of the ecliptic. Recent studies have determined that much of the dust seems to originate from the planet Mars. And on March 20 between 5 and 6 PM PDT, look with binoculars or a telescope for the Lunar X along the day/night terminator as the Sun rises on the tall intersecting rims of craters still in darkness.
