March 1996

by Steve Stefanik

On March 20 at 3:03 a.m. EST we will have "turned the corner", so to speak, having reached the vernal equinox when the ecliptic (the path of the sun) crosses north of the equator once again, thus giving us longer hours of daylight and fewer hours of darkness with each passing day as we approach the summer solstice. It won’t be long now! Things should begin heating up rather rapidly as the tilt of the earth causes the northern hemisphere to become more directly perpendicular with the rays of the sun.

The angle of the sun above the horizon also increases with the passage of the equinox which this year makes the timely appearance of Venus in the western sky as high above the horizon as it ever gets. The planet reaches its greatest elongation (furthest distance from the sun) on March 31. As a result , the "evening star" remains visible for almost four hours after the sun sets. This is a great month to view the phases this dazzling -4.3 magnitude planet goes through with a small telescope or even a pair of binoculars. It will look like a miniature version of the first quarter moon and by months end it will be in a gibbous phase.

Venus begins the month in the constellation Pisces (the fish), moves through Aries (the ram), and into Taurus (the bull) by month’s end, where it will be near the Pleiades open star cluster (which looks like a mini-dipper) in the west. A thin waxing crescent moon will lie 5 degrees south of the planet on the evening of the 22nd.

After Venus sets each night the only other planet visible with the naked-eye in the night sky will be Jupiter which rises about three hours after mid-night. Look for this robust -2.0 magnitude giant of a planet above the handle of the "teapot" asterism in the constellation Sagittarius in the southeast just before dawn. A waning crescent moon will appear just above it on the morning of the 14th.

Uranus and Neptune are too low on the southeastern horizon before the sun rises. Pluto of course is too small and too far away to be seen with anything but the most powerful telescopes and cameras. Mars will be in conjunction with the sun beginning on the 4th and Saturn will join Mars in conjunction with the sun on the 17th. They will remain in the glare of the sun in the east throughout the remainder of the spring. Mercury will also reach superior conjunction with the sun on the 28th and will remain out of sight until mid-April.

The newly discovered comet Hale-Bopp is still just a +8.6 magnitude blob. You will need a telescope with at least a 6 inch aperature to view it. At present it is moving at a rate of about 1 degree per week through the constellation Sagittarius. We may be able to get a better glimpse of it this summer when it is high in the southern sky. By this time next year, if all predictions hold true, Hale-Bopp could be bright enough to see with the unaided eye. Lets hope!