Sunrise Sunset

Fri., March 19 6:47 6:52

Sat., March 20 6:45 6:53

Sun., March 21 6:43 6:54

Mon., March 22 6:42 6:55

Tues., March 23 6:40 6:56

Wed., March 24 6:38 6:57

Thurs., March 25 6:37 6:58

Fri., March 26 6:35 6:00

The crescent moon appears high in the western sky at the start of the evening this weekend. It is moving through the last of the winter constellations. This weekend the moves through the zodiacal constellation Taurus. It is close to the small star cluster Pleiades tonight and tomorrow night. Early next week, the moon moves through Gemini.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the gibbous moon appears close to the red planet Mars.

Spring Arrives

Spring arrives tomorrow afternoon at 1:32 p.m. Tomorrow is that moment in the year when daylight and night time should be identical in length. The sun is right over the equator, and the hours of daylight and darkness should be the same no matter our latitude. But a quick check with the sunrise and sunset table says we are off by minutes; sunset and sunrise are not precisely 12 hours apart.

Daylight and nighttime would be precisely the same on this day, were it not for our atmosphere, according to astronomers. The Earth’s atmosphere is responsible for the apparent error, for it acts like a lens and lifts the sun above the horizon before it rises. It also holds onto the image of the sun as it sets in the west. No matter what the day, the bright red sun sitting on the horizon that we see at sunrise and sunset every day is really not there at all.

On March 17, the times of sunrise and sunset were precisely 12 hours apart, at 5:50.

M.A.L.