46 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE February | March 2019
the end of March, with the Pleiades star
clusterinTaurus.TheUranus meet up
will be easily visible in the field of view
of typical binoculars. If you can get a
view through a telescope, even better:
havealookatthecolour difference of
the two planets — Mars being a ruddy
sort of colour, while most people say
theUranuslooksgreenish or sort of
aquamarine. Uranus has a smaller
apparent diameter than Mars, while the
RedPlanetitselfappears much smaller
nowthanitdidwhenit made its close
approach to Earth last year.
Jupiter(–2 .0, 36 ̋at the start
of March) is the second-brightest
luminary in the eastern morning sky,
higher above the horizon than, and
about two magnitudes fainter than,
Venus. It’s always fun to point Jupiter
out to non-astronomers, particularlySUN, MOON & PLANETS by Jonathan NallyVenus and Saturn meet
in the morning
The planetary duo will dance among the stars in the pre-dawn sky.
M
ars is our only easy-to-see
evening planet during February
and March, while the morning
sky will be the domain of Venus, Jupiter
and Saturn — all of them in a line —
and, at the end of March, Mercury.
Starting with Mercury (ab out
magnitude –1 and 5.5 ̋ wide, mid-
February), the tiny planet hugs the
western evening horizon during
February and will be very hard to spot,
rising only a few degrees into the sky.
The first half of March won’t be any
better as the planet heads for inferior
conjunction (between Earth and the
Sun) on the 15th. Thereafter it will
reappear above the eastern pre-dawn
horizon in the last week of March,
followedbyaperiodofgoodobserving
conditions during April.
Venus(– 4. 2 , 17. 2 ̋mid-February)SLeft:Three planets gather in the morning sky.Middle:Mars is in the evening sky.Right:Venus and Saturn swap places.is dominating the morning sky to the
east at the moment — shining brightly,
it will be impossible to miss. Watch
for some close approaches with some
other celestial bodies. On February 1
the thin crescent Moon and Venus will
be very close together and will make for
quite a spectacular sight. Then, Saturn
and Venus will be close from February
17 to 20 — they’ll be closest on the
19th at about 1° separation, forming a
marvellous sight for early risers. Then
there’ll be another close get together
with the crescent Moon on March 3.
Mars (1.3, 5 ̋ at the end of February)
is our evening planet at the moment,
in the north-east after sunset. Look for
the Moon nearby on February 10 and
March11,andfortwospecialmeetings
—withUranusonFebruary12and13
(they’llbeabout1°apart)andthen,at