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22 | THE COLONY NEWS | MARCH 2022 | COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD By Mike Vergara, (951) 461-2889 Leo the Lion is peeking up over the eastern horizon in the evenings, so it must be March! There are no planets visible in the evenings right now. They're either up in the mornings just before sunrise or hiding out next to the sun. We won't be seeing any evening planets until late summer. The "Full Worm Moon" will be on the 18th. It's called that because earthworms and other grubs are beginning to appear now that the weather is warming up. If you're out in the early evening, though, look to the northeast. You'll see the "Big Dipper," one of the most well- known patterns in the sky. In particular, look at the handle of the dipper where it bends. You will most likely see only one star there. With binoculars, a telescope or really sharp eyes, you will see two stars. These stars are named Mizar and Alcor. Nicknamed the "horse and rider," brighter Mizar is the horse and dimmer Alcor is the rider. Horses show up quite frequently in astronomy. Besides Mizar and Alcor, we have the constellations Pegasus (the winged horse), Equuleus (the foal), Monoceros (the unicorn), and the Dark Horse and Horsehead Nebulas. However, there's more to the horse and rider than meets the eye. Mizar has another star nearby, closer than Alcor, simply called "Mizar B." Both Mizar and Mizar B have even closer companion stars! And Alcor has its own close companion star. These much smaller and closer stars can only be detected with advanced astronomy equipment and a large telescope. So, when you look up at the dipper and find Mizar and Alcor, there are really six individual stars in three binary pairs all orbiting each other. The International Space Station will be passing overhead in the pre-dawn hour for the first part of the month. Later in the month, it switches to evenings, exactly the opposite of February. Visit http://skymaps.com/index.html to print your own map of the sky for the month. For information about satellites, go to https://heavens-above.com. Clear skies! march Sky march Sky Dolores Nissim In Memoriam