• Mark Lovewell

In Vineyard Skies: Moonless Nights

The nights ahead will be moonless for most of the coming week.

On Wednesday, March 9 there is a solar eclipse and it only visible in parts of the Eastern Pacific. The total eclipse appears over a narrow band that extends from Indonesia east to off Hawaii. For much of the Pacific hemisphere the eclipse is partial. The last chance to see the moon before the eclipse will be this weekend, in the early morning before sunrise.

The moon hangs low in the east Saturday morning. It will be even slimmer and closer to the rising sun on Sunday morning, visible for only a short time. The moon reappears next Thursday evening low in the southwestern sky in the zodiacal constellation Pisces. The moonless nights ahead give stargazers a full opportunity to enjoy the night sky without a lunar distraction. More and more of the constellations of the season and the seasons ahead are available for view. The spring constellations are visible soon after sunset.

Constellations including Leo and Virgo are rising in the east. The winter constellations, such as Orion and Taurus, are setting in the west. If you are outside around midnight, the brightest celestial object is Jupiter and it is nearly overhead. There is nothing brighter. Rising in the east is the summer constellation Hercules.

Stay up later in the night and the whole sky is taken over by the constellations of summer: Scorpius, Bootes, Cygnus and even Lyra appear.

 

Sunrise and Sunset
Day Sunrise Sunset
Fri., March 4 6:12 5:35
Sat., March 5 6:10 5:36
Sun., March 6 6:09 5:37
Mon., March 7 6:07 5:38
Tues., March 8 6:05 5:39
Wed., March 9 6:05 5:41
Thurs., March 10 6:02 5:42
Fri., March 11 6:00 5:43
Temperatures and Precipitations
Day Max (Fº) Min (Fº) Inches
Feb. 26 54 34 0.00
Feb. 27 41 22 0.00
Feb.  28 49 31 0.00
Feb.  29 54 43 0.00
March 1 55 39 0.00
March 2 52 37 0.02
March 3 48 22 0.09

 

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 41º F

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