1 00:00:00,266 --> 00:00:02,201 [♪] 2 00:00:02,234 --> 00:00:04,370 [Narrator] What's Up for March? 3 00:00:04,403 --> 00:00:05,805 Jupiter in the morning, 4 00:00:05,838 --> 00:00:07,306 the start of spring, 5 00:00:07,339 --> 00:00:09,042 and a visit to the Beehive. 6 00:00:10,476 --> 00:00:12,478 Jupiter greets early risers all month long. 7 00:00:12,511 --> 00:00:15,415 Look low in the southeast an hour before sunrise. 8 00:00:15,448 --> 00:00:18,151 (And if you have an unobstructed view toward the horizon, 9 00:00:18,184 --> 00:00:20,753 you'll be able to spot Saturn and Venus as well, 10 00:00:20,786 --> 00:00:23,322 a bit lower in the sky.) 11 00:00:23,355 --> 00:00:26,292 March marks the 40th anniversary of the Voyager 1 12 00:00:26,325 --> 00:00:30,630 spacecraft's flyby of Jupiter, in 1979. 13 00:00:30,663 --> 00:00:33,599 Voyager gave us our first detailed, close-up look at the 14 00:00:33,632 --> 00:00:35,602 giant planet and its moons. 15 00:00:36,769 --> 00:00:38,938 March also brings the beginning of spring 16 00:00:38,971 --> 00:00:40,206 in the Northern Hemisphere, 17 00:00:40,239 --> 00:00:43,243 starting on the 20th, with the Spring Equinox. 18 00:00:44,310 --> 00:00:46,579 Equinoxes occur twice a year, in spring and fall, 19 00:00:46,612 --> 00:00:49,882 on the dates when day and night are of equal length. 20 00:00:49,915 --> 00:00:52,485 From here until the beginning of fall, in September, 21 00:00:52,518 --> 00:00:54,487 daytime will be longer than nighttime, 22 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,522 as the Sun travels a longer, 23 00:00:56,555 --> 00:00:58,825 higher arc across the sky each day, 24 00:00:58,858 --> 00:01:01,327 reaching a peak at the start of summer. 25 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,764 It's just the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, 26 00:01:04,797 --> 00:01:07,967 where March 20th marks the fall Equinox. 27 00:01:09,535 --> 00:01:11,170 The arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere 28 00:01:11,203 --> 00:01:13,639 brings fresh flowers and the buzzing of bees, 29 00:01:13,672 --> 00:01:15,875 which makes March a great time 30 00:01:15,908 --> 00:01:17,944 to try to spot the Beehive Cluster. 31 00:01:17,977 --> 00:01:22,215 This grouping of young stars sits about 600 light years away 32 00:01:22,248 --> 00:01:24,450 and consists of several hundred stars 33 00:01:24,483 --> 00:01:27,020 that are only a few hundred million years old. 34 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,057 That's compared to our Sun's four-and-a-half billion years. 35 00:01:31,524 --> 00:01:34,894 Although the Beehive can be seen as a small fuzzy patch 36 00:01:34,927 --> 00:01:37,497 with unaided eyes under dark skies, 37 00:01:37,530 --> 00:01:40,133 it's best viewed with binoculars. 38 00:01:40,166 --> 00:01:41,634 To find the Beehive Cluster, 39 00:01:41,667 --> 00:01:45,238 look south and follow a line from brilliant Sirius 40 00:01:45,271 --> 00:01:48,040 ━ the brightest star in the sky ━ 41 00:01:48,073 --> 00:01:49,475 upward and slightly to the left, 42 00:01:49,508 --> 00:01:52,178 toward another of the sky's brightest stars, Procyon. 43 00:01:52,211 --> 00:01:55,615 Continue that path about the same distance upward 44 00:01:55,648 --> 00:01:58,918 and then a couple of finger widths to the left. 45 00:01:58,951 --> 00:02:01,120 While the Beehive Cluster is visible 46 00:02:01,153 --> 00:02:03,956 in the first half of the night all month long, 47 00:02:03,989 --> 00:02:05,791 the best times to look for it 48 00:02:05,824 --> 00:02:08,194 are the first and last weeks of the month, 49 00:02:08,227 --> 00:02:10,963 as the Moon shines brightly mid -month, 50 00:02:10,996 --> 00:02:15,535 making faint objects like this cluster more difficult see. 51 00:02:15,568 --> 00:02:17,737 And here are the phases of the Moon for March. 52 00:02:20,573 --> 00:02:22,575 You can catch up on all of NASA's current 53 00:02:22,608 --> 00:02:26,212 and future missions at nasa.gov 54 00:02:26,245 --> 00:02:29,715 That's all for this month. 55 00:02:29,748 --> 00:02:30,883 [NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory