Best time to see:<\/strong> 1 March, 40 minutes before sunrise Venus is a morning object at present, rising a couple of hours before the Sun at the month\u2019s start and 80 minutes before the Sun at the end. The planet reaches dichotomy this month, passing from crescent through to gibbous phase. Dichotomy is the term used to indicate when a planet (or the Moon) reaches the 50 per cent phase. This month, dichotomy should occur on 21 March, but due to what\u2019s known as the \u2018phase anomaly\u2019, through the eyepiece of a telescope Venus will appear half-lit a few days later than this theoretical prediction. The phase anomaly is believed to be caused by how the planet\u2019s thick atmosphere scatters sunlight. Take a look through a telescope and make an estimate of the phase in the run up towards and beyond the 21st.<\/p>\n\n Venus drops in brightness over March, but only by a fifth of a magnitude. On the 1st this most brilliant of planets appears to shine at mag. \u20134.4. <\/span>On the 31st, at mag. \u20134.2, Venus will still look intense against the morning\u2019s dawn twilight. It appears best at the month\u2019s start with a darker sky.<\/p>\n\n Mars and Saturn appear close to Venus. Saturn will be too close to the Sun to see properly at the month\u2019s start, but it will be visible with Venus and Mars at the month\u2019s end. On the 25th, Venus sits 4.6\u02da from mag. +1.1<\/span> gain much altitude above the southeast horizon as sunrise approaches. An 18%-lit Mars, and 4.1\u02da from +0.9 Saturn, but the squat triangle formed by the three fails to<\/span> waning crescent Moon lies below the trio on the morning of the 28th.<\/p>\n\n Mercury is a morning planet, not well placed at the start of March. On the 1st it shines at mag. \u20130.1, lies 2\u02da southwest of mag. +0.9 Saturn and rises 30 minutes before the Sun. That offset deteriorates over the following days, and as a consequence, from the UK at least, Mercury is unlikely to be seen with the naked eye over the rest of the month.<\/span><\/p>\n\n Best time to see:<\/strong> 31 March, 50 minutes before sunrise Mars is visible in the morning sky as a mag. +1.3 object rising 90 minutes before the Sun on the 1st, when it appears 5\u02da below mag. \u20134.4 Venus. Over the next few mornings, Mars and Venus appear to converge, both planets appearing separated by just 4\u02da on the 12th. A lovely, albeit rather low, triangular grouping of Mars, Venus and Saturn can be seen low above the southeast horizon 40 minutes prior to sunrise on the 24th. By the 31st, Mars will have brightened to mag. +1.1 and rises 80 minutes before the Sun. The Mars, Saturn and Venus triangle will be contained to an area less than 6\u02da across on 31 March.<\/span><\/p>\n\n Through an eyepiece Mars is a bit disappointing, appearing to have an apparent diameter of 5 arcseconds at the month\u2019s end. However, this will change during the year as Mars approaches opposition in early December 2022.<\/p>\n\n Jupiter reaches solar conjunction on 5 March and despite drawing away from the Sun\u2019s position rapidly, is unlikely to be seen this month. On 31 March, mag. \u20131.9 Jupiter rises<\/span> just 20 minutes before the Sun.<\/p>\n\n Best time to see:<\/strong> 31 March, 50 minutes before sunrise Saturn is a morning planet, slowly crawling away from the Sun during the month. Its placement in the sky isn\u2019t very optimal at present, the planet not gaining much altitude despite rising at a reasonable time before the Sun. If you have a flat southeast horizon, look out for mag. +0.9 Saturn, mag. +1.1 Mars and mag. -4.2 Venus together between 22\u201331 March. A thin, 18%-lit waning crescent Moon sits below the trio on the morning of the 28th.<\/p>\n\n Best time to see:<\/strong> 1 March, 19:50 UT Mag. +7.9 Uranus may be seen 30\u02da above the west-southwest horizon as true darkness arrives on the 1st. A 17%-lit waxing crescent Moon sits 6.5\u02da to the southwest of Uranus on the evening of the 6th, and as a 25%-lit waxing crescent, 6\u02da to the planet\u2019s east on the 7th. By mid-March, Uranus appears a fraction over 20\u02da up above the western horizon as true darkness descends, but by the month\u2019s end it falls to just 8\u02da. As a result, March marks the end of the current observational window for this distant world.<\/p>\n\n Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun on 13 March; consequently, the planet is not visible this month.<\/p>\n\n Print out observing forms for recording planetary events<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n The phase and relative sizes of the planets this month. Each planet is shown with south at the top, to show its orientation through a telescope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Using a small scope you can spot Jupiter\u2019s biggest moons. Their positions change dramatically during the month, as shown on the diagram. The line by each date represents 00:00 UT.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Our celestial neighbourhood in March<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"48","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"48","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_48-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_48-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_external_id":"March-2022-48-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"March-2022-48-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335.jpg",1579,991,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335-300x188.jpg",300,188,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335-768x482.jpg",768,482,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335-1024x643.jpg",800,502,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335-1536x964.jpg",1536,964,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335.jpg",1579,991,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Our celestial neighbourhood in March","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29021"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30443,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29021\/revisions\/30443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Altitude:<\/strong> 10\u02da (low)
Location:<\/strong> Sagittarius Direction: Southeast Features: Phase, faint shaded markings.
Recommended equipment:<\/strong> 75mm, or larger<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/11341e8b-0c62-4c8b-b947-9971f16ef335.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/eec03b6f-55cb-4dcb-8bbc-9cd7fbb338b3.jpg\")
Mercury<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Mars<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Altitude:<\/strong> 3\u02da (very low)
Location:<\/strong> Capricornus<\/span>
Direction:<\/strong> Southeast <\/span><\/p>\n\nJupiter<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Saturn<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Altitude:<\/strong> 3\u02da (very low)
Location:<\/strong> Capricornus
Direction:<\/strong> East-southeast<\/p>\n\nUranus<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Altitude:<\/strong> 33\u02da
Location:<\/strong> Aries
Direction:<\/strong> West-southwest<\/p>\n\nNeptune<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
More ONLINE <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The planets in March<\/h4>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/106987c8-9b41-490f-80ba-582280204781.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\nJupiter’s moons: <\/strong>March<\/h4>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/64fb19e5-6598-46b9-99cf-6b60f48fc18e.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"