March 11
The Solar Twin
Sun Position
The Sun is in Pisces, declination near +12.5°; daylight in the Northern Hemisphere is now running about 45 minutes ahead of darkness, and the Southern Hemisphere is in the same position in reverse.
Sky Highlight
Virgo is rising into the eastern evening sky in mid-March, with its brightest stars clearing the horizon after sunset. The Virgo Cluster of galaxies (containing well over a thousand members) is approaching its best spring visibility, making this the opening of the prime galaxy season for the Northern Hemisphere.
Deep Sky Object
M84 and M86, a prominent pair of elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, about 55 million light-years away, lying close together and visible in the same telescope field; M86 shows one of the largest known blueshifts of any Messier object, indicating it is moving toward us within the cluster. Best seen from the Northern Hemisphere; southern latitudes can observe but at lower altitude.
Featured Star
Zavijava (β Vir) is a main-sequence F-type star just 35.65 light-years away, spectral class F8V, close enough to solar in temperature and luminosity to be considered a solar analog, a near-match to what our own Sun looks like from a distance. Its Arabic name traces to an early meaning related to barking dogs or a corner of the sky where such an asterism was imagined.
Around This Date
- March 11, 1811Honoré Flaugergues confirmed the Great Comet of 1811, which became one of the brightest comets of the 19th century, visible to the naked eye for nearly nine months.
- March 11, 1996Comet Hyakutake made its closest approach to Earth, passing at about 0.10 AU, briefly becoming one of the brightest comets visible since Comet West in 1976.
A solar analog 36 light-years out: from Zavijava's hypothetical planet, our Sun would be an unremarkable point in Virgo.