I was able to watch the landing of Perseverance while at work during February. I even had a few co-workers interested in it! Hopefully most of my readers were able to take a break from their day to watch this incredible event. For most of February, it was too cloudy, stormy, and cold to do much stargazing. I was able to do some naked eye observing but nothing else this month. Hopefully March will bring warmer temperatures and a few more cloudless nights so I can do some more observing!
Aside from the usual sights, March will bring Mars close to the red eye (Aldebaran) of Taurus the Bull. Mars may also be found close to the Pleiades for part of the month with the Moon joining the pair. Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon can be found close in the sky before sunrise. For the second month in a row, there will be no major meteor shower but there will be a chance to see the Zodiacal Light which is best viewed after sunset.
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| Mercury |
Mercury will reach its greatest western elongation on the 6th, rising nearly an hour before the Sun. If you have been watching the morning planets, you may have noticed Jupiter and Mercury moving closer to one another. On the 5th, they can be found less than 1° apart. If using an eyepiece with a wide field of view, you may be able to capture both planets in a single field of view. By the 10th of the month, the Moon will join Mercury and Jupiter in the sky. After this close approach, Mercury will sink closer to the Sun until it is lost in its morning glow.
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| Venus |
Venus will be lost from our view this month as it reaches superior conjunction with the Sun on March 26th. A superior conjunction is the point when two planets are on the opposite side of the Sun.
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| Mars |
It seems that Mars is always the planet that captures our attention, which it will continue to do during March. During the first couple of nights, Mars will be found below the Pleiades but will be moving to the left of the Seven Sisters. By the 14th, Mars can be found about half way between the Pleiades and the red star, Aldebaran, which makes up the eye of Taurus the Bull. On the 18th, the 27% lit crescent Moon will join the trio and on the 19th can be found within 2° of the red planet. Mars will continue its eastward motion against the background stars and can be found above Aldebaran at the end of the month. In regards to the Perseverance mission, you can click HERE for the latest news and images!
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| Jupiter |
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| Saturn |
The gas giant, Jupiter, will rise about an hour before the Sun during the first part of the month and can be found close to Mercury on the 5th. The 9% lit crescent Moon can be found closeby on the 10th for the early risers. Jupiter will continue to rise earlier than the Sun throughout the month, and will rise nearly 2 hours before our star at the end of the month.
Saturn and its rings will rise about 30 minutes before Jupiter or an hour and half before the Sun. The Moon will join the ringed world on the 9th, posing just 4° apart. By the end of the month, Saturn will rise nearly two and half hours before the Sun.
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| Neptune |
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| Uranus |
The outer two planets are best viewed through a telescope but can still be seen through a pair of binoculars. Uranus will be found closer to the western horizon than Mars, as it leads the planets along the ecliptic through March. This planet will be hard to spot until the 16th, when a 12% lit crescent Moon can be found to the left of this dim world.
Neptune will be lost from our view this month as it reaches superior conjunction with the Sun on March 10th.
Zodiacal Light
March will be the second month in a row without a major meteor shower. However, it will be the second month in a row with the chance to view the Zodiacal light after sunset. The best chance will be during the first two weeks of the month and the last couple of days of the month when the Moon is out of the western sky. An observer will want to get away from all sources of light pollution with a clear view of the western horizon. Shortly after the Sun sinks below the horizon and twilight begins to fade, one should see the faint glow of the Zodiacal light stretching upward towards the zenith. This light will be in the constellations of Aries in the west to Taurus nearly overhead. March is the best time to view the Zodiacal light because of the ecliptic being nearly vertical to the horizon.
Spot Me....🕵️
I've had you try to spot quite a few different objects in the night sky, most of which require a telescope. March will likely remain cooler and wet for Utahns, limiting the chance to do some serious stargazing. If your schedule and the weather permits, I urge you to attempt to view the Zodiacal light. If you are unable to get away from the light pollution, try to view Mars between the 14th and 18th when it can be found close to the Pleiades and will be joined by the Moon on the 18th. Compare the colors of Aldebaran and Mars.
As always, leave a comment to let us know what you see!
Monthly Breakdown
March 05: Mercury and Jupiter pass within 0.5°
March 05: Last Quarter Moon 🌗
March 06: Mercury reaches greatest western elongation
March 09: Moon passes within 4° of Saturn
March 10: Moon passes within 4° of Jupiter
March 10: Moon passes within 4° of Mercury
March 10: Neptune reaches superior conjunction
March 13: New Moon 🌑
March 16: Moon passes within 3° of Uranus
March 19: Moon passes within 2° of Mars
March 20: Vernal equinox
March 21: First Quarter Moon 🌓
March 22: Mars and Aldebaran within 7°
March 26: Venus reaches superior conjunction
March 28: Full Moon 🌕
Think About This....💡
Since so much attention has been given to Mars over the past few months, I thought sharing some interesting facts about the red planet would be appropriate. In previous posts, I have mentioned that Mars has the largest known volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which is about the size of Arizona and about 16 miles tall! Mount Everest on Earth is only about 5.5 miles tall. I have also mentioned that Mars has the largest known canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, which is slightly larger in size than the continental United States.
Mars is about half the size of Earth or twice as large as our Moon. While light from the Sun takes, just over 8 minutes to reach the Earth, it takes nearly 12.5 minutes for sunlight to reach Mars. These times are an average since the planets do not orbit the Sun in a perfect circle, but instead have an elliptical orbit, meaning that the orbit looks like a squashed oval if viewed from above the plane of the solar system.
Mars has two moons, instead of just one like the Earth. Both moons, named Phobos and Deimos, are not circular in shape like the moon of the Earth. Phobos and Deimos are shaped like potatoes. Mars was named after the ancient Roman God of War due to its red color. The Greeks referred to this planet as Ares for their God of War. (There is a red star in Scorpius named Antares which means "not Ares"). Phobos is only about 14 miles in diameter and orbits Mars at just 3,700 miles above the surface. It can complete 3 orbits in a single day! This is the closest of any moon to its parent planet. Its name means "fear" in Greek and is also the name of the son of Ares. Deimos, less than 8 miles in diameter, is the outer moon of Mars and takes about 30 hours to complete one orbit. In Greek, Deimos means "terror" or "dread." Both of these names and meanings go well with a planet named for war!
A day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than that of Earth. As you know, Mars is further away from the Sun than the Earth, which means it orbits the Sun more slowly (think of a whirlpool or water going down a drain) and has a greater distance to travel to complete one orbital period. One year on Mars is 687 Earth days which is nearly 2 years on our planet!
The force of gravity on Mars is about 1/3 of Earth's gravity. This is due to its smaller size and being less dense than the Earth. An object weighing 100 pounds on Earth would weigh only 38 pounds on Mars! With the decreased gravity, a human visiting Mars from Earth could jump higher and throw objects a great distance. Due to the change in gravity and a thinner atmosphere, it would be much different flying on Mars than it is on Earth. Perseverance that recently landed on Mars, has a helicopter with it, named Ingenuity, which will allow NASA to figure out how different it will be to fly above the Martian surface.
The temperature on Mars is much different than on Earth as well. The hottest recorded temperature on Earth is 136° F while on Mars it's 86° F. At the opposite extreme, the coldest temperature recorded on Earth is -126° F while on Mars it's -284° F. Finding the average on both planets, the average temperature on Earth is 57° F while on Mars it is a chilly -81° F! If you plan to visit Mars in the future, be sure to dress warmly!
While writing this portion, NASA released the actual footage of Perseverance landing on Mars. Clicking here will allow you watch it! This link has commentary and some video from inside the mission control room.
Stay tuned for more exciting news and events!
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| Now get outside and look up! |
Planet images taken by NASA.
Andrew vs. the Cosmos taken by Jeff Greenland.