SkyEye

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

March 2009

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	Sun
2	Mon
3	Tue	Moon occults the Pleiades: visible from about 0730 UT in northeastern Russia and northwestern North America.
4	Wed	First Quarter Moon
5	Thu
6	Fri
7	Sat	Moon at perigee
8	Sun	Saturn at opposition
9	Mon
10	Tue
11	Wed	Full Moon
12	Thu
13	Fri	The Full Moon wreaks havoc on observations of the Gamma Normids.
13	Fri	Uranus at conjunction
14	Sat
15	Sun
16	Mon
17	Tue	Moon occults Antares: visible from about 0230 UT in northeastern South America.
18	Wed	Last Quarter Moon
19	Thu	Moon at apogee
20	Fri	Equinox on Earth
21	Sat
22	Sun
23	Mon
24	Tue
25	Wed
26	Thu	New Moon
27	Fri	Venus at inferior conjunction
28	Sat
29	Sun
30	Mon	Moon occults the Pleiades: visible from about 1330 UT in eastern Russia, China and Korea.
31	Tue	Mercury at superior conjunction

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 including comets, 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 20 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 -> Pisces -> Cetus -> Pisces
Mercury is quite difficult to see from northern latitudes this month but is high in the east before sunrise when viewed from the southern hemisphere. However, it declines in altitude and is gone from view late in the month, undergoing superior conjunction on the last day of the month.
Venus: Pisces
The "evening star" is best seen from the northern hemisphere but even here it is descending towards the western horizon. It is lost from sight by mid-month as seen from below the equator but is visible right through inferior conjunction for northern observers. In fact, for a few days right around conjunction on 27 March northern hemisphere observers can see Venus both after sunset and before sunrise! This is because Venus passes quite far north of the Sun's disc at conjunction.
Mars: Aquarius
The outermost rocky planet shines ruddily in the morning twilight, rising not long before the Sun.
Jupiter: Capricornus
Jupiter rises about the same time as distant Neptune but is much brighter. It holds court as the "morning star" until next month when Venus takes over.
Saturn: Leo
At opposition on 8 March, the ringed planet is up all night.
Uranus: Aquarius -> Pisces
This gas giant will be unobservable this month as it is at conjunction on 13 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.

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 SkyEye banner features a view of Saturn from its satellite Iapetus and is courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Of all the major satellites of Saturn, Iapetus is the only one with a significant orbital inclination. Thus, whilst the rings appear nearly edge-on from all of the other major satellites, from Iapetus they are usually seen at a tilt. This image was taken during the Cassini-Huygens mission on 10 September 2007 and consists of 15 red, green and blue spectral filter images.