March 17 Full Moon, Easter, Orange Skies Over Europe

 

Tiny Star Shoots Out Huge Beam of Matter, Antimatter 40 Tr

March 17 Full Moon, Easter, Orange Skies Over Europe

The March full moon is located in our night sky in the direction of the constellations Leo and Virgo. Illustration by John Jardine Goss. Read about the full moon of March and see another chart, identifying the nearby stars.

Tonight's full moon is opposite the Harvest Moon This full moon bears the names Worm Moon, Crow Moon and Sap Moon. It reaches the crest of its full phase tonight for clocks in the Americas (tomorrow morning for Europe). This is the closest full moon to 2022's vernal equinox ... coming Sunday. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the March full moon shows characteristics opposite those of a Harvest Moon ... which fell 6 months ago. And meanwhile, this is the Southern Hemisphere's Harvest Moon, famous for ushering in a succession of moonlit nights in the season of waning daylight. Read about March full moons. When is Easter in 2022? Here's the rule for Easter Sunday. It generally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. The equinox is Sunday. So tonight's full moon doesn't set the date of Easter. Instead, the first full moon after the equinox will be April 16. And that's why Easter is so late this year. Sahara dust storm turns skies orange in Europe A powerful storm system brought clouds of Sahara dust to parts of Europe yesterday, leading to dramatic orange skies, very poor air quality and a layer of accumulating mud in Spain, Portugal and France. And it's not over yet. Read about the dust over Europe. Searching for life as we don't know it Most searches for life on other worlds are based on what we know about life on Earth. Earthly life is still the only template for life we have. But what about life as we don't know it? Researchers at Arizona State University say they've devised a new way to search for alien life that isn't like earthly life. Read about a new method of searching for life. Sun activity: Glancing blow from CME possible today Spaceweather.com is reporting this morning that a CME will pass by Earth later today. It might deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field. The weak impact will cause, at most, a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. That might be enough to spark bright auroras around the Arctic. See today's sun images, and get updates.

Moon beanies are back in stock at the EarthSky Store! Defy the cold and go outdoors to stargaze during spring with an EarthSky moon beanie. They sell out quickly, so order yours before it's too late!

Tonight's full moon is near Regulus and Denebola From the Americas, look east in early evening tonight for the rising full moon. The bright stars nearby are Regulus, Heart of the Lion in Leo, and Denebola, the Lion's Tail. Illustration by John Jardine Goss.

New image from Webb: Another milestone achieved View larger. | Yesterday NASA released another new image from Webb, the giant space telescope launched on Christmas Day and now residing at the L-2 point in the Earth-sun system. The telescope is now in a testing phase. Its first science images are expected this summer. This image is a taste of what's to come. As NASA said: “While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb’s optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up.” Learn more about Webb’s newest image. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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