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<\/figure><\/div>\n\nThe Northern Lights have lit up our skies already this year, with bright displays visible in Scotland, northern England and, during one particularly energetic display, as far south as Norfolk. But why do we see more aurora activity in the winter and spring months? Scientist Maria-Theresia Walach reveals all, explaining why displays are often most energetic in March<\/a> (spoiler alert: it\u2019s not just because the nights are longer!) and how these enchanting light shows are the spectacular sign of our planet\u2019s connection with its star 150 million kilometres away. <\/p>\n\n Also in this issue, we mark what would have been Sir Patrick Moore\u2019s 100th birthday. We look at what made him Britain\u2019s best-loved amateur astronomer<\/a>, and Chris Lintott shares personal memories<\/a> of working with him on The Sky at Night. <\/em>You can also join Steve Richards for a tour of 10 of the best objects to observe this month from Patrick\u2019s own Caldwell Catalogue<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n Venus will be an unmistakeable twilight fixture in the west and climbing higher in the sky throughout March. It\u2019s a great time to view this mysterious planet in more detail, and the BAA\u2019s Venus section director, Paul Abel, is at hand with expert advice on how to do it<\/a>. If you\u2019re unable to get to a telescope, fear not: Venus takes part in several lovely close approaches with other planets which are visible to the naked eye. You\u2019ll find all the details in the Sky Guide<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n Enjoy the issue! <\/p>\n\n Chris Bramley, Editor <\/p>\n\n PS Our next issue goes on sale on Thursday 23 March. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Discover the workings of the endlessly intriguing aurorae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"3","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"3","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_3-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_3-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"March-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"March-2023","purple_external_id":"March-2023-3-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"March-2023-3-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086562||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086562||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.214","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.214","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.214","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.214","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1.jpg",925,916,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1-300x297.jpg",300,297,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1-768x761.jpg",768,761,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1.jpg",800,792,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1.jpg",925,916,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/01\/SKY200_291121_ss16621-1.jpg",925,916,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":"Discover the workings of the endlessly intriguing aurorae","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41477"}],"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=41477"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42172,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41477\/revisions\/42172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}