compiled by Rick Wagner
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!
28 Mar - Full Moon
Algol minima?
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The RASC Kingston Centre was established in 1961. It is Incorporated Not-For-Profit (Ontario) and is a Registered Charity (Canada Revenue Agency).
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