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SkyandTelescope.com March 2014 49

To see what the sky looks like at any given time and date, go toSkyandTelescope.com/skychart. Fred Schaaf

Jupiter

Neptune

Uranus

Pluto

Saturn

March

equinox

Sept.

equinox

December

solstice

June solstice

Mars Earth Sun

Venus Mercury

ORBITS OF THE PLANETS

The curved arrows show each planet’s movement

during March. The outer planets don’t change

position enough in a month to notice at this scale.

Looking South-Southwest

Dawn, March 19 –22

1 hour before sunrise

Spica

Antares

Mars

Saturn

Moon

March 19

Moon

March 20

Moon

March 21

Moon

March 22

1

2

3

SCORPIUS

β

δ α^ Lib

Dawn, March 26 –28

1 hour before sunrise

Venus

Moon

March 26

Moon

March 27

Moon

March 28

Looking East-Southeast

Mercury and Venus are at greatest elon-

gation west of the Sun on March 14th and

22nd, respectively. But at mid-northern

latitudes the angle of the ecliptic is very

shallow at dawn in March, so both planets

are still quite low a half hour before sun-

rise on those dates — about 16° for Venus

and just 6° for Mercury (for skywatchers

near 40° north latitude).

Venus dims from a stunning magni-

tude –4.8 to –4.4 during March. Its globe

shrinks from 33′′ to 22′′ wide, and its

phase increases from 36% to 54% lit. Mer-

cury starts the month at magnitude +0.8

and brightens only to –0.1 at month’s end.

Neptune and Pluto were at conjunc-

tion with the Sun on February 23rd and

January 1st, respectively. Throughout

March, they are both too low in morning

twilight to view without great eff ort.

MOON AND SUN

The fi rst-quarter Moon is close above

Aldebaran at nightfall on March 7th. The

waxing gibbous Moon passes below Jupi-

ter on the 9th and 10th and below Regulus

on the 13th and 14th.

The waning gibbous Moon rises to

the upper right of Mars and Spica late on

the evening of the 17th, and it rises below

them on the 18th. The Moon shines quite

close to Saturn when they rise around

midnight on the night of March 20th.

Finally, the lunar crescent hangs close to

the left of Venus in a spectacular pairing

at dawn on March 27th.

The Sun reaches the March equinox at

12:57 p.m. EDT on March 20th, starting

spring in the Northern Hemisphere and

autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. ✦

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