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March’s Full Moon is known as the Worm Moon in the Traditional Farmer’s Almanac. It was believed that this is the time of year that the earthworms appear as the soil starts to warm up.
Some ancient astronomers believed the dark areas of the moon were bodies of water and therefore named them seas and even oceans. We now know that these areas are lava fields. There was volcanic activity over a billion years ago in these areas. The volcanic material has a higher iron concentration than the material in the highlands. This material is less reflective and looks darker. We also know that the volcanic activity resulted more recently than the creation of the Moon, because there are fewer craters in these areas. It is believed that the volcanic material covered over the older craters.
How to decorate your new home before you move New York Times News Service March 11, 2021 6:06 pm
Moving in a pandemic has special challenges especially if your new place is across the country and you can’t make repeated visits to gradually set things up. And shopping for furniture in crowded stores may make some people uneasy while the COVID-19 vaccines are still being distributed.
If you are planning a move, you can do a lot of prep work to make the eventual unpacking and decorating go more smoothly. (And if you have already made a visit to your new home to take photos and measurements, use that information.) With 3D models and augmented reality apps, you can lay out your rooms, select a color scheme, and even sample virtual furniture. Here’s a guide:
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The most famous of all star clusters is the Pleiades Cluster, better known as the Seven Sisters. This beautiful group of stars lies in the constellation Taurus the Bull.
To the casual observer, the Pleiades appear as a tight formation of 6 or 7 stars in the shape of a little dipper. However, under dark sky conditions, observers have reported as many as 11. In fact, the cluster contains hundreds of stars. The cluster lies at a distance of 425 light-years. Compared to our Sun the stars that form the Pleiades are only 100 million years old.
The stars are surrounded by a faint nebulosity that appears blue in long photographic exposures. The nebulosity is seen by reflected starlight from the cluster members. Alcyone is the central star of the group and the brightest member. It’s 10 times the size of the Sun.
Credit Dell Vance
The Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral galaxy with several arms. Our solar system is located in one of the smaller arms, the Orion Arm. In the wintertime evening sky, the Milky Way runs from Cassiopeia to a position just east of Orion. The Milky Way can be easily found by locating Sirius, the Dog Star, and Procyon. The Orion Arm of the Milky Way lies between these two stars.
The wintertime view of the Milky Way is quite different than the summertime view.
In the summertime evening sky, you will find the Milky Way is running from Cassiopeia through Cygnus, the Swan, and ending between Sagittarius and Scorpio. It is very bright and has dark regions of dust. The area between Sagittarius and Scorpio is in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. The Sagittarius Arm has a high concentration of stars. Directionally you are looking toward the center of the Milky Way.