{"id":43104,"date":"2023-03-20T14:30:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T14:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=117237"},"modified":"2023-03-20T15:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:32:30","slug":"see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march\/","title":{"rendered":"See Mars meet the Moon and open star cluster M35 towards the end of March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mars will continue to fade over the coming weeks, so make the most of the Red Planet as March draws to a close. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 20 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

There will be a great opportunity to see Mars joined by the crescent Moon and the open star cluster<\/a> M35 in the night sky as March draws to a close.<\/p>\n

As Mars<\/a> recedes from Earth, its telescopic appearance wanes. At the start of March, the Red Planet shone at mag. +0.4, presenting an apparent disc measuring 8 arcseconds across.<\/p>\n

However, by the end of March Mars will dim to mag. +1.0 and shrink to just 6 arcseconds across.<\/p>\n

For more stargazing tips, sign up to receive the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter<\/a> and listen to our weekly Star Diary podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Mars will pass to the north of the open cluster M35 towards the end of March 2023. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Although this makes it harder to observe and image, through binoculars or a widefield telescope there are still things to look out for.<\/p>\n

At the start of March, Mars was in Taurus<\/a>, between the Bull\u2019s horns, moving prograde, or east, against the background stars.<\/p>\n

Its travels take it from Taurus and into Gemini<\/a> towards the end of March, ahead of an encounter with the beautiful binocular open cluster, M35, around 2,970 lightyears away.<\/p>\n

From the UK, Mars maintains a decent altitude under dark skies all month, ideal conditions for viewing the encounter.<\/p>\n

The action starts on 27 March<\/strong>, when mag. +0.9 Mars is joined by a 37%-lit waxing crescent Moon to the south of the star Elnath (Beta (\u03b2<\/span>) Tauri) at 21:40 BST (20:40 UT).<\/p>\n

At this time, Mars will be 8.2\u00b0 east of the Moon and 1.7\u00b0 northwest of M35.<\/p>\n

Just before they all set, the Moon\u2013Mars distance will have decreased to 6.1\u00b0, Mars also getting a tiny bit closer to the cluster, the distance now being 1.6\u00b0.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Open star cluster M35. Credit: Manfred Wasshuber \/ CCDGuide.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

On the evening of 28 March<\/strong> at 21:40 BST (20:40 UT), the Moon\u2019s phase will be 47%-illuminated or virtually first quarter, its disc now located 3.8\u00b0 northeast of Mars.<\/p>\n

The planet will also be nearer the star cluster, the centre-to-centre separation of the two being 1.4\u00b0.<\/p>\n

On the evening of 29 March<\/strong>, the now waxing gibbous Moon leaves the scene, being closer to the twin stars Castor and Pollux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mars will appear 1.2\u00b0 north of M35, a separation repeated on the night of 30 March<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On 31 March<\/strong>, the planet slowly separates from the cluster, now appearing 1.4\u00b0 from M35\u2019s centre.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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Mars will continue to fade over the coming weeks, so make the most of the Red Planet as March draws to a close. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":43105,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/03\/see-mars-meet-the-moon-and-open-star-cluster-m35-towards-the-end-of-march.jpg",1200,800,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":"Mars will continue to fade over the coming weeks, so make the most of the Red Planet as March draws to a close.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/43104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}