AstroPlanet (The Blog)

March is the third month in the Gregorian calendar and consists of 31 days. In ancient Rome, the year began on March 1. Around the year 45 BC Julius Caesar reform the calendar and moved the beginning of the year to January 1. The month of March is named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

Spring begins on March 20^th when the Spring Equinox occurs. The Spring Equinox occurs when the tilt of the Earth is in tangent with the orbit of Earth around the Sun.  This point marks the beginning of Spring.  An Equinox has an equal amount of daylight and nighttime.

The New Moon for March occurs on Monday, March 15^th; this will make the weekend of March 13-14 as the best weekend for dark sky observing.

The Full Moon for March occurs on March 29^th and is known as the “Full Pink Moon” or the “Pascal Moon.”

On March 20^th, on the Spring Equinox, the waxing crescent Moon is passing through the asterism Pleiades (M45).

On March 25^th, the waxing, gibbous Moon passes within 3°30’ of the

Beehive Cluster (M44).

March 30^th finds the waning, gibbous Moon passing within 3°

of the star Spica.

Mercury is observable in the evening hours, after March 26^th as it emerges from the glare of the sunset.

On March 31^st, Mercury and Venus will be about 3°25’ of each other.

Unseen due to the position relative to the Sun, Mercury begins the month in the constellation Aquarius (The Water bearer) and on March 14^th, passes into the constellation Pisces (The Fish). On March 20^th, Mercury brief crosses into the constellation Cetus (The Sea Monster), and 13.5 hours later, returns to constellation Pisces where it finishes out the month.

Venus is observable all month in the evening hours of March.  Venus begins this month in the constellation Aquarius (The Water Bearer) and on March 3^rd crosses into the constellation Pisces (The Fish).  Starting March 12 Venus starts to cross the corner of the constellation Cetus (The Sea Monster) and returns to Pisces 50 hours later on March 14^th. Finally, Venus moves into the constellation Aries (The Ram) on March 30^th.

On March 3^rd, Venus passes less than 1° of Uranus.

On March 16^th, Venus sets within 6°20’ of the waxing, crescent moon.

Mars is located in the constellation Cancer (The Crab) all month and is visible from evening to early morning hour throughout March.  Mars is in excellent position for observation due to it reaching Opposition on January 29^th.  Mars sets around 4:40 am (PST) at the start of the month and by the end of the month is setting around 3:40 am (PDT)

On March 25, Mars sets less than 5°20’ of the waxing, gibbous moon.

Jupiter is located in the constellation Aquarius (The Water Bearer) all month. However Jupiter is not observable until around March 20^th when it emerges from the glare of the morning Sunrise; rising around 5:00am (PST).

This month Saturn will be in the absolute best position for observation as it reaches opposition on March 21, 2010.  Saturn is opposite to the sun relative to our position on Earth, so, Saturn will be up all night, rising as the Sun sets and setting when the Sun Rises.

Saturn is located in the constellation Virgo (The Maiden) until December, 2012.

On March 1^st, Saturn rises 7°35’ of the waning, gibbous Moon.

The Planet Uranus is located in  the constellation Pisces (The Fish) until May of 2012.  Due to its position relative to the Sun, Uranus will on be observable this month.

Neptune can be observed this month just before sunrise.  It rises around 5:50 am (PST) at the start of the month and by the end of March, is rising around 4:55 am (PDT). On March 23^rd, Neptune crosses from the constellation Capricornus (The Sea Goat) to the constellation Aquarius (The Water Bearer) where it will remain until August.

Pluto is observable during most of  the morning hours of March.  Pluto rises around 2:30 am (PST) at the start of March and around 1:30 am (PDT), by the end of March.  The planet Pluto is located in the constellation Sagittarius (The Archer) until the year 2023.

3/1/2010 Saturn rises within 7°35′ waning, gibbous Moon

3/3/2010 Venus passes within 1° of Uranus

3/7/2010 Last Quarter Moon

3/9/2010 Pluto rises within 8° of waning, crescent Moon

3/13/2010 Neptune rises less than 3° of waning, crescent Moon

3/14/2010 Daylight Savings Time begins in the US (Spring Ahead)

3/15/2010 New Moon

3/16/2010 Waxing, crescent Moon passes within 6°20′ of Venus

3/20/2010 Spring Begins at Vernal Equinox

3/20/2010 Waxing, crescent Moon passes through the asterism Pleiades (M45)

3/20/2010 Jupiter emerges from the glare of Sunrise

3/21/2010 Saturn reaches Opposition

3/23/2010 First Quarter Moon

3/25/2010 Waxing, Gibbous Moon passes less than 3°30′ of the Beehive Cluster (M44)

3/25/2010 Waxing, crescent Moon psets less than 5°20′ of Mars

3/26/2010 Mercury emerges from the glare of Sunset/

3/29/2010 Full Pink Moon

3/29/2010 Saturn rises less than 8°15′ of waxing, gibbous Moon

3/30/2010 Waning, gibbous Moon passes within 3° of the star Spica

3/31/2010 Venus passes within 3°25′ of Venus

Tags: Beehive Cluster, First Quarter Moon, Full Pascal Moon, Full Pink Moon, Jupiter, Last Quarter Moon, M44, m45, Mercury, Neptune, New Moon, Pleiades, Pluto, Saturn, Saturn Opposition, Spica, Spring, Uranus, Venus, Vernal Equinox

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under What's Up this Month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.