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20 | THE COLONY NEWS | MARCH 2023 | By Mike Vergara, 951- 461-2889 March is coming in like a lion! Did you know that's an astronomical reference? The constellation Leo (the Lion) is just becoming visible at sunset. Led by the bright star Regulus (aka Cor Leonis, or the Heart of the Lion) this constellation has been identified as a lion by many cultures over the ages. At the other end of Leo – the Lion's tail – is a star called Denebola. When a star's name contains the word "deneb", usually is described as the tail of that object. "Deneb" is a word of Arabic origin, whose root meaning is generally known to be "the tail of [something]". Denebola (in Leo) is the tail of the lion. Deneb (in Cygnus) is the tail of the swan. Deneb Kaitos (in Cetus) is the tail of the whale. Deneb Dulfim (in Delphinus) is the tail of the dolphin. I hope you had a chance to view comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in February. It was an unusual comet in that its tail was green, due to the effect of sunlight on the gases that were being exhausted from the comet. March's full moon, which occurs on the 7th, was known as the "Full Worm Moon". It was thought that this name referred to the earthworms that appear as the ground warms up in the spring. Further research indicates it might also refer to a beetle larvae that begins to emerge from the thawing bark of trees. The only planet in the sky this month is Mars, now moving away from the Earth since its opposition last December. All the other visible planets are up in the daytime. Finally, spring returns! On March 20 nighttime and daytime will be of (mostly) equal duration, which is what "equinox" means. Starting this day, we'll have more daylight than darkness for the next six months. To find where the planets and constellations are, visit http://skymaps.com/index.html. From there you can print your own map of the sky for the month. Clear skies! March Sky March Sky Frank Bellerive Sharon (Emily) Brown Ruth Carter Isagani Cornelio James Rende June Tschanz Joyce Vaughn Irene Wolff In Memoriam