Skywatch: March 17th, 2013

With the arrival of the Spring season comes the soon departure of the famed winter constellation of Orion. On Friday, March 22nd, as the three famed belt stars are now nearly horizontal, the constellation is flanked to the right by the planet Jupiter and to the left by the bright star known as “Sirius”

Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star”, is the brightest appearing star in the night sky and has an apparent magnitude of -1.46.

This week the moon can be viewed as a waxing gibbous as it approaches its full phase on Wednesday, March 27th.

On Friday, March 15th, the sun emitted large solar ejections. This occurrence may trigger increased aurora activity this week.