SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

March 2007

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Thu
2	Fri	Moon occults Saturn: visible from Greenland, Britain, northern, northeastern and southeastern Europe, western Asia.
2	Fri	Moon occults first-magnitude star Regulus: visible from Siberia, Mongolia and northern China.
3	Sat	Full Moon
3	Sat	Total lunar eclipse
4	Sun
5	Mon	Uranus at conjunction
6	Tue
7	Wed	Moon at apogee
8	Thu
9	Fri	Jupiter at west quadrature
10	Sat
11	Sun	Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from Chile and Argentina.
12	Mon	Last Quarter Moon
13	Tue
14	Wed	The waning Moon interferes with observations of the Gamma Normid meteor shower. This shower is poorly understood and the peak may occur on 17 March which yields much better observing conditions.
15	Thu
16	Fri
17	Sat	Moon occults Mercury
18	Sun
19	Mon	Partial solar eclipse
		New Moon
		Moon at perigee: With New Moon occurring so near to perigee, unusually high tides are expected.
20	Tue
21	Wed	Equinox
22	Thu	Mercury at greatest elongation west
23	Fri
24	Sat
25	Sun	First Quarter Moon
26	Mon
27	Tue
28	Wed
29	Thu	Moon occults Saturn: visible from Greenland and Iceland.
30	Fri	Moon occults first-magnitude star Regulus: visible from Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and northwestern Europe.
31	Sat

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Aquarius -> Pisces
The solar south pole is most inclined towards the Earth early this month. An equinox occurs on Earth on 21 March. The word equinox means "equal night" so that on this day, the (centre of the) Sun spends an equal amount of time above and below the horizon everywhere on the planet.
Mercury: Capricornus -> Aquarius
A morning sky object, it rises fairly high in the east before sunrise for viewers in the southern hemisphere but stays somewhat closer to the horizon for those in the north. At greatest elongation east on 22 March, it heads back towards the Sun during the last part of the month. The Moon occults this tiny planet on 17 March.
Venus: Pisces -> Aries
The "evening star" continues to climb higher in the western sky after sunset for northern hemisphere observers but the view is not nearly so good for those south of the equator.
Mars: Capricornus
The red planet rises during the lightening sky at dawn. It appears in the sky near Neptune at the end of the month.
Jupiter: Ophiuchus
Because Jupiter is at western quadrature on 9 March, this is a particularly good time to observe its Galilean satellites. A small telescope will show the interesting interplay of shadows - planet on satellites, satellites on planet - which is emphasized during quadrature. The largest planet in the solar system rises around midnight.
Saturn: Leo
The ringed planet is up most of the night, setting at dawn.
Uranus: Aquarius
This gas giant will be unobservable this month as it is at conjunction on 5 March.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system but observations will be difficult because Neptune was at conjunction last month and rises during morning twilight. It will be near the planet Mars at the end of the month.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S

For More Information...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The image of Hoag's Object in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Discovered in 1950 by astronomer Art Hoag, this unusual ring galaxy is slightly larger than our own Milky Way. The blue ring is dominated by young, massive stars whilst the nucleus is comprised largely of older, yellower stars. Located 600 million light years away in the constellation of Serpens, Hoag's Object was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope on 9 July 2001.