01 Mar - bright Mars passes several degrees south of the Pleiades star cluster. Mars makes a very photogenic pass between the Pleiades and the Hyades clusters over the ~10 days. Perfect chance to sketch the motion for the Orbital Motion requirement of the Explore the Universe certificate.
01-15 Mar - Zodiacal light is visible in the west towards the end of evening twilight as a faint and hazy triangular pillar of light extending upwards from the western horizon towards the Pleiades.
04 Mar - asteroid 4 Vesta at opposition in the hind-quarters of Leo the lion. At magnitude 6.0 it might be barely visible to the naked eye for the more eagle-eyed of us. Vesta is the only minor planet which is ever visible to the naked eye for most people.
04 Mar - Algol at minimum about 20:10
05 Mar - Mercury (mag 0) is less than a degree north of Jupiter (mag -2) very low in the ESE sky starting about 45 minutes before sunrise. At the same time all 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter will be in a line on the west side of the planet - visible in carefully held binoculars and small telescopes. Saturn (mag 1) is 9 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter.
06 Mar - Last quarter Moon
06 Mar - Mercury at greatest elongation west low in the eastern sky in morning twilight
09-11 Mar - crescent Moon passes about 4d south of Saturn then Jupiter and then Mercury low in the eastern sky in morning twilight
13 Mar - New Moon
13 Mar - William Herschel discovered Uranus 240 yrs ago today - take your binoculars or telescope out to look at it after evening twilight and celebrate the anniversary!
14 Mar - 0200 Daylight saving time begins, clocks spring ahead
18 Mar - Mars and the Moon are near the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters.
20 Mar - 13:37EDT vernal equinox - the Sun is overhead at the equator and we get (roughly) equal hours of daytime and nighttime.
21 Mar - First quarter Moon
23 Mar - Mars is 7d north of Aldebaran - compare their colours and brightnesses!
27 Mar - 20:30-21:30 Earth Hour - turn off your lights and devices and get out to look at the sky!
Like taking night sky photographs? Enter the 'Shoot the Stars' Dark Sky Photography Contest and win some great prizes! The contest runs from May 9th - October 31st, 2015. (Visit website.)
Like taking night sky photographs? Enter the 'Shoot the Stars' Dark Sky Photography Contest and win some great prizes! The contest runs from May 9th - October 31st, 2015. (
