In this month's edition:

• This Month at the Centre of the Universe
• School Programs
• Upcoming Events: Be A Tourist in Your Own Home Town, Canadian National Marsville
• The Sky This Month

School Programs at the Centre of the Universe

We are now taking reservations for our school programs! Bring your class to the observatory and planetarium and experience our curriculum-linked activities. To see a list of school programs we offer, see http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/services/hia/centre-universe/school.html. For additional information, please contact us at 250-363-8262 or e‑mail cu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.

Be A Tourist in Your Own Home Town

The Centre of the Universe will be participating in this year's Be A Tourist in Your Own Home Town by offering public hours from 12:30pm to 4:30pm on Wednesday, March 3^rd, Thursday, March 4^th and Friday, March 5^th. For more information on Be A Tourist in Your Own Home Town, please see: http://www.attractionsvictoria.com/

Canadian National Marsville

Students from grades 6 to 8 across Canada are participating in the annual Canadian National Marsville adventure run by the National Research Council. The aim of Marsville is to get students to work together on engineering and science projects to simulate the habitation of Mars by humans. The students began their Marsville projects on January 28^th and have been designing and building models of various Martian life-support systems. On April 30^th, Marsville participants across Canada will come together via the Internet for their national link-up day to share their work and ideas.

For more information on the Canadian National Marsville Program, see: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/education/marsville/index.html

The Sky This Month:

Mar. 7     Last Quarter Moon @ 07:42

Mar. 15   New Moon @ 14:02

Mar. 23   First Quarter Moon @ 04:01

Mar. 29   Full Moon @ 19:26

All dates and times are local to Victoria, BC.

This month, the spring constellations will start to appear.  Leo, Cancer and Gemini dominate the southern sky, while Boötes and the Corona Borealis begin to rise. To find Leo, imagine an arrow going through the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper. Follow the arrow through until you get to the bright star, Regulus. Looking at the sky chart above, we see that Regulus is part of "The Sickle" which is actually the head of Leo, the Lion.

Planets

This month, Venus set in the west just after the sun sets. Mars is high in the sky to the left of the heads of the Gemini twins. Saturn rises just before 8:00pm and remains visible until morning.

The Moon:

According to "The Saanich Year" by Earl Claxton, February is the month of the "Pexsisen" moon, or the moon of "opening hands and the blossoming out moon". This is the month when the trees and the flowers open their hands in bloom to mark the arrival of spring.

Quick Astronomy Fact

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is an enormous hurricane on the surface of the planet that is even larger than the planet Earth.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or concerns, please contact Katrina Au-Yong at 250-363-8262 or e‑mail cu@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.