March 2001

By Steve Stefanik

The month of March focuses our attention on earlier sunrises and later sunsets in anticipation of the Vernal Equinox (the first day of Spring), which will occur on the 20^th at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Befittingly, along with earlier sunrises the planet Mercury also rises in the east as the sky begins to brighten about an hour before sunrise. On March 7^th its magnitude will be a modest +0.7. It reaches greatest western elongation (farthest point west of the sun) on the 11^th. But, by the 22^nd it brightens to a noticeable 0 magnitude and lies a mere 4 degrees from a thin waning crescent moon.

The other planet to watch this March is Mars. It rises after 1:00 a.m. in the southeast amid the stars of the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. It lies just 5 degrees north of Antares the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the scorpion. You could easily mistake one for the other early in the month because they are almost identical in brightness and color both being about +0.2 magnitude and red-orange in color. By the end of March however, Mars outshines Antares reaching –0.2 magnitude. On the evening of the 15^th the last quarter moon will be just above and to the right of Mars. Antares will be below Mars and slightly to its right.

The three remaining planets to see are Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus and are well placed for viewing. Jupiter and Saturn are still in the constellation Taurus the bull, which is high overhead at sundown. Although Jupiter and Saturn have dimmed somewhat to -2.2 and +0.2 magnitudes respectively, Venus is still brilliant at magnitude –4.6. However, Venus is moving rapidly toward the sun on its way toward inferior conjunction (when it passes between the earth and the sun) on March 30^th when it will disappear from the evening sky and become a "morning star" in the east.