Startwatch for March 2025

Hello!  I’m Karl Hricko of United Astronomy Clubs of NJ and the National Space Society, bringing you the March Starwatch for WNTI – the sound of Centenary.

I feel it tugging on my body.  I’m being pulled into an area of space that’s curved in on itself. I can now see the back of my head.  If I continue, my feet would stretch out, and I’ll resemble a spaghetti noodle.  It’s almost as if I were Alice in Wonderland.

I’m falling into…a Black Hole.  If it’s not rotating, I’ll be crushed.  If the hole is rotating, I could bypass its dense singularity.  Now it gets curiouser and curiouser.  I may find myself entering a wormhole.  This could lead me into another part of the universe, or time, or another universe. Well here I go – into a rotating Black Hole- even though my name is not…Alice.

Astronomers can now image the boundary of a Black Hole in the form of a ring of bright light using a network of telescopes. Although we can’t see the ring of light from the boundary of a Black Hole we can see the five visible planets with our naked eyes. This month of Daylight Saving Time, four of the visible planets can be seen after sunset. Saturn isn’t seen because it’s too close to the Sun.  As you look to the west, you’ll see a strikingly bright Venus in Pisces. Just below, Mercury can barely be seen. Both disappear at the end of the Month. In the southeast, Mars is found in Gemini, while in the southwest — Jupiter rides the bull in Taurus. On the 13^th to the 14^th, from          12:00 midnight to 6:00 a.m. a total lunar eclipse occurs. Totality lasts between                     2:26 a.m. to 3:31 a.m.

So this month, try not to get eclipsed, or too close to a Black Hole, as you observe our shining planets.

Until our next Starwatch –   Don’t forget to check out …    What’s up in the night sky!