Mar 31st - Blue Moon, second full moon of the month.
THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF March.
SKY MAP FOR MARCH 1999.
and 
The Sun and Moon
All times are in GMT the same as U.T. Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.
Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.
2nd 7th 12th 17th 22nd 27th 1st Apr
SUNRISE 06:58 06:46 06:34 06:22 06:10 05:58 05:56
SUNSET 17:52 18:01 18:11 18:00 18:29 18:38 18:47
|
PHASES OF THE MOON DURING MARCH 1999 |
FULL MOON
on 2nd
at 07h:00m |
LAST QUARTER
on 10th
at 08h:41m |
NEW MOON>
on 17th
at 18h:49m |
FIRST QUARTER
on 24th
at 10h:19m |
FULL MOON
on 31st
at 22h:50m |
March 21st marks the date of the Spring Equinox when the Sun crosses the celestial equator in Pisces heading North. March is also the month when the clocks are traditionally advanced by one hour in Britain to take us into British Summer Time. As far as this page is concerned, you will have to added one hour to any times stated to obtain BST.
THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.
MERCURY.
Table
Mercury is at its best in the evening sky this month. with it lying in the rather faint constellation of Aquarius there are no bright stars around to confuse you when trying to indentify the planet. Wait until half an hour after the Sun has set and slowly scan the Western horizon with binoculars, moving up slightly after each sweep.
RIGHT: Map for finding Mercury.
Placing the binoculars on a camera tripod should assist in this Mercury will soon give iys location away by being the first 'star' to show itself ( apart from Venus and Jupiter which are higher up and much, much brighter) as the sky darkens. On the 19th Mercury is back at the Sun for an Inferior conjunction.
VENUS.
On the 20th the Moon passes a wide 6° South of Venus as they travel through the constellation of Pisces, presenting an ecellent apportunity for a photographic record. Also on the 20th Venus and Saturn lie 2.5° apart, Venus being the much brighter of the pair.
Venus and Saturn during March.
MARS.
Mars is very well placed in the early eveing sky. You should by now br familiar with its position against the background stars of Virgo as it tracks to the East. Note though that this month Mars slows its apparent motion and early in April starts to move Westwards. This is known as Retrograde motion and is a phenomenon caused by the Earth orbiting the Sun at a faster rate than Mars. Using background stars as a reference the Earth overtakes Mars and starts to head away leaving Mars lagging behind. After a period of a couple of months or so normal prograde motion resumes. On the 7th Mars is 2° South of the Moon.
MARSWATCH - latest observations of the red planet.
ASTEROIDS.
8 Flora can be found in Virgo at Mag 10 during the month. Its at opposition on March 23rd.
For More information on Asteroids Click Here.
JUPITER.
Jupiter is now unfavouably close to the Sun for observations.
Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.
SATURN.
Saturn, its brief dalliance with Venus now over, will soon move too close to the Sun to be observed.
URANUS and 
NEPTUNE.
Both outer planets are unfavorable for observations at this time.
PLUTO.
Pluto can be found in Ophiuchus, above the 2nd magnitude star Zeta Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is when the Moon is not around. With this in mind the dates given below, calculated as either side of the New Moon, maybe used as a guide for planning an observing session.
Best seen between March 10th and March 24th.
The Positions have been calculated for every ten days at 00h U.T. throughout the period of March 1999 when Pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.
Positions are for Epoch 2000.
Date R.A. DEC TRANSIT ELG
h m s ° ' " Time °
Mar 2nd 16 39 26 -10 24 57 06h:16m 091
Mar 12th 16 39 37 -10 22 13 05h:37m 100
Mar 22nd 16 39 34 -10 19 05 04h:47m 110
METEORS.
COMETS.
OCCULATIONS.
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