March 22
Twin Orbits
Sun Position
The Sun is in Aries at roughly +1° declination and climbing northward at nearly its fastest annual rate; the Northern Hemisphere day is now clearly ahead of the night, and the Southern Hemisphere's nights are beginning to lengthen.
Sky Highlight
Virgo is well-placed in the east-southeast by March evenings, and Porrima (a tight double star) is one of the more satisfying spring telescope targets as the constellation climbs higher. The separation between Porrima's components varies over its 169-year orbit; currently it is opening again after its 2005 closest approach.
Deep Sky Object
M87 (NGC 4486), a massive elliptical galaxy at the center of the Virgo Cluster, about 53 million light-years away, notable as the location of the first black hole directly imaged (Event Horizon Telescope, 2019); it also produces a visible jet of plasma in long-exposure images. Visible from both hemispheres in spring.
Featured Star
Porrima (γ Vir) is a pair of nearly identical yellow-white main-sequence stars (both F0V) just 38 light-years away, orbiting their common center of mass over a 169-year period. At closest approach in 2005, they were inseparable in all but the largest telescopes; now they are pulling apart again, and a medium amateur telescope will split them cleanly.
Around This Date
- March 22, 1895The Lumière brothers patented the Cinématographe; within years, motion-picture techniques were adapted for time-lapse solar and lunar photography, advancing observational astronomy.
- March 22, 1997Comet Hale-Bopp reached its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion), having been visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months and becoming one of the most observed comets in modern history.
Two identical stars, 169 years to a full orbit. Porrima's pair is still pulling apart from its 2005 closest pass, and a small telescope will now find clear sky between them.