March Calendar by Dave Mitsky

All times are UT (subtract 5 hours and when appropriate 1 calendar day for EST)

3/1 The Moon is 4.6 degrees north of Saturn at
10:00; a double Galilean shadow transit
begins at 18:25
3/4 Mercury is in superior conjunction at 2:00;
Jupiter (magnitude -2.5, 44.5") is at
opposition at 5:00; maximum lunar libration of
8.3 degrees occurs at 21:00
3/5 A double Galilean shadow transit begins
at 7:22; the Martian spring equinox occurs at
13:00
3/6 The north pole of the Sun is at its maximum
inclination (7.25 degrees) away from the
Earth today; Comet 43P Wolf-Harrington is at
perihelion at 1:00; the Moon is 2.9 degrees
north-northeast of Jupiter at 18:00; Full
Moon (known as the Crow, Lenten, Sap, or
Sugar Moon) occurs at 23:14
3/7 Saturn is stationary in right ascension and
resumes direct or prograde (eastward)
motion at 13:00
3/8 A double Galilean shadow transit begins at 8:20
3/9 The Moon is 3.7 degrees north-northeast of the
first magnitude star Spica at 16:00
3/10 Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto form a compact
group for European observers at 22:00; the
Moon is at the descending node (longitude
222.4 degrees) at 23:05
3/11 Minimum lunar libration of 1.6 degrees occurs at
11:00; asteroid 7 Iris (magnitude 9.0) is at
opposition at 14:00; the Sun enters Pisces
(ecliptic longitude 351.36 degrees) at 15:00
3/12 The Moon is at perigee, subtending 32'20" from a
distance of 369,506 km, at 4:00; a double
Galilean shadow transit begins at 9:16; the
Moon is 2.2 degrees north-northeast of the
first magnitude star Antares at 22:00
3/13 Last Quarter Moon occurs at 21:02
3/14 Asteroid 4 Vesta (magnitude 7.9) is 1.3 degrees
south-southeast of Neptune (magnitude 8.0)
at 00:00
3/15 Comet C/2003 H1 (LINEAR) is nearest to Earth at
4:00; a double Galilean shadow transit
begins at 22:13
3/16 Mercury is at the ascending node at 14:00
3/17 The Moon is 5.1 degrees south-southeast of
Neptune at 12:00
3/18 Maximum lunar libration of 7.9 degrees occurs at
7:00; the Moon is 4.0 degrees south-southeast
of Uranus at 23:00
3/19 Mercury reaches its greatest illuminated extent
of 21 square arc seconds today; a double
Galilean shadow transit begins at 11:10
3/20 The vernal equinox occurs at 6:49; New Moon
(lunation 1005) occurs at 22:43
3/21 A double Galilean shadow transit begins at 5:38;
Mercury is at perihelion at 6:00; Mars is
3.0 degrees south-southeast of M45 (the
Pleiades) at 10:00; Epsilon Piscium (magnitude
4.3) is 2' north of Mercury for western
European and African observers at
approximately 20:00; Venus is at perihelion
at 22:00
3/22 The Moon is 3.2 degrees south-southeast of
Mercury at 8:00
3/23 A double Galilean shadow transit begins at 00:07
3/24 The Moon is at the ascending node (longitude 41.6
degrees) at 4:56; Pluto is stationary in
right ascension and begins retrograde
(westward) motion at 18:00; the Moon is
2.0 degrees south-southeast of Venus at
23:00
3/25 Minimum lunar libration of 2.2 degrees occurs at
7:00; the Moon is 2.4 degrees south-southeast
of M45 at 18:00
3/26 The Moon is 0.79 degree north-northwest of Mars
at 00:00 - an occultation occurs in some
regions of the northern hemisphere; a double
Galilean shadow transit begins at 13:04;
Saturn is at eastern quadrature (i.e., it is
90 degrees from the Sun) at 23:00
3/27 The Moon is at apogee, subtending 29'32" from a
distance of 404,521 km, at 7:00
3/28 A triple Galilean shadow transit begins at 8:00;
the Moon is 4.7 degrees north of Saturn at
19:00; First Quarter Moon occurs at 23:48;
Mars passes 3' south of 39 Tauri (magnitude
5.9) this evening
3/29 Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation (18.9
degrees from the Sun) at 12:00; Venus is at
greatest eastern elongation (46.0 degrees
from the Sun) at 17:00
3/30 A double Galilean shadow transit begins at 2:16;
the Moon is 1.7 degrees south-southwest of
Pollux at 5:00
3/31 The Moon is 3.6 degrees north-northeast of M44
(the Beehive Cluster) at 8:00; Mercury is at
greatest heliocentric latitude north at
11:00; Venus is at theoretical dichotomy
(i.e., it is 50% illuminated) at 15:00

Times and dates for the lunar light rays predicted to occur this month are available at http://www.lunar-occultations.com/rlo/rays/rays.htm

Beginning on March 25th the five naked-eye planets as well as the Moon can be seen in the evening sky by northern observers for a period of about two weeks.

Mercury presents its best evening apparition of the year during the second half of March. On March 29th, the day of its greatest eastern elongation, Mercury at zero magnitude sets more than 1.5 hours after the Sun.

Unsurpassed by planet or star, Venus is a -4.3 magnitude beacon in the western sky. This year the second planet from the Sun reaches greatest eastern elongation only five hours after Mercury and does not sink below the horizon until 4 hours after sunset. This is the highest altitude that Venus attains in the evening sky during the period of 1996 to 2012.

The Red Planet moves from Aries to Taurus by mid-month and drops below 5.0" in size by the end of March. Mars has close encounters with a number of fifth and sixth magnitude stars on the evenings of March 18th and 26th. Mars no longer outshines Aldebaran.

Since Jupiter reaches opposition on March 4th, it is visible from sunset to sunrise in the constellation of Leo. During this rather distant opposition Jupiter shines at -2.5 magnitude and subtends the same angular diameter as Saturn's rings. Ten double shadow transits occur this month but not all of them are visible from the western hemisphere. However, a rare triple shadow transit does favor us. For 19 minutes on March 28th the shadows of Callisto, Io, and Ganymede respectively will span Jupiter's northern hemisphere. (See page 65 of the March issue of "Astronomy" for further details.)

Saturn is still quite prominent in Gemini as it ends its retrograde motion on March 7th. The shadow of the planet on its rings grows more pronounced as Saturn approaches eastern quadrature on March 26th.

Uranus and Neptune emerge from the glare of the Sun in March.

Pluto is now high enough to observe but only late at night.

Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is visible to the south of 86 Pegasi for a short time in early March. In mid-April the comet will reappear in the pre-dawn sky after passing behind the Sun.

Asteroid 1 Ceres travels eastward through Gemini at eighth magnitude this month.

Thirty binary and multiple stars for March: Struve 1173, Struve 1181, Struve 1187, Zeta Cancri, 24 Cancri, Phi-2 Cancri, Iota-1 Cancri, Struve 1245, Iota-2 Cancri, 66 Cancri, Struve 1327 (Cancer); Struve 1270, Epsilon Hydrae, 15 Hydrae, 17 Hydrae, Theta Hydrae, 27 Hydrae, Struve 1347, Struve 1357, Struve 1365 (Hydra); 3 Leonis, Struve 1360, 6 Leonis, Omicron Leonis (Leo); Struve 1274, Struve 1282, Struve 1333, 38 Lyncis, Struve 1369 (Lynx); h4046 (Puppis)

Twenty deep-sky objects for March: M44, M67, NGC 2775 (Cancer); M48, NGC 2610, NGC 2642, NGC 2811 (Hydra); NGC 2903, NGC 2964 (Leo); NGC 2859 (Leo Minor); NGC 2683 (Lynx); NGC 2567, NGC 2571 (Puppis); M81, M82, NGC 2681, NGC 2841, NGC 2950, NGC 2976, NGC 2985 (Ursa Major)

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