The night sky for March 2020

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during March 2020.

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere’s night sky during November 2019.

The Planets

• Jupiter As March begins, Jupiter rises more than 90 minutes before the Sun shining at magnitude of -2. It then follows Mars and precedes Saturn into the pre-dawn sky - all rising within the space of an hour. During the month it brightens to magnitude -2.1 whilst its angular size increases from 34.2 to 36.9 arc seconds. A low south-eastern horizon will be needed and our views of the giant planet and its Gallilean moons will be hindered by the depth of atmosphere through which it will be observed.
  
  
• Saturn At the start of March, Saturn rises at 05:33, half an hour after Jupiter, and, by its end, at 04:42 whilst its magnitude remains at +0.7 and it angular size increases from 15.5 to 16.1 arc seconds. Sadly, its low elevation before sunrise will limit our views of this most beautiful planet. Binoculars might be needed to spot it, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.
  
  
• Mercury Mercury is lost in the Sun's glare this month so cannot be observed.
  
  
• Mars, Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start the month. It then rises at ~04:30am and will be best seen at around 6am having an elevation of ~8 degrees. It will have a magnitude of +1.1 and a 5.5 arc second, salmon-pink, disk and lies just to the left of the 'lid of the teapot' in Sagittarius. By month's end it will have just moved into Capricornus and will be seen further round towards the south before dawn when its magnitude will have increased slightly to +0.8. Its angular size will have increased to 6.4 arc seconds but no markings will be seen with a small telescope. During the month it moves eastwards with respect to Jupiter and Saturn which had followed it into the pre-dawn sky as March began and passes below Jupiter on the 21st and Saturn as April begins.
  
  
• Venus, Venus is now dominating the south-western twilight sky and appears higher each night until the 24th when it reaches greatest elongation east from the Sun and will then have an elevation at sunset of ~40 degrees - about the highest elevation it can ever achieve! During the month its angular size increases from 18.8 to 25.2 arc seconds but, at the same time, it phase (the percentage of the disk illuminated) decreases from 63% to 48% and so the brightness only increases slightly from -4.3 to -4.5 magnitudes.
  
  

Highlights

• Early March - evening: Spot Uranus near Venus. A chance to find Uranus, at magnitude 5.8, with binoculars as it is approached by Venus. The chart shows the relative positions of Uranus and Venus during the first week of March. Uranus forms a 'propeller' with two other stars so should be easy to spot as Venus passes close by.
  
  
• March 8th - late evening: the near full Moon lies below Leo. In the late evening, the Moon, one day before full, lies below the belly of Leo, the Lion.
  
  
• March 18th - before Dawn: Three planets and a waning crescent Moon. If clear before dawn on the 18th, looking towards the southeast, one should see a waning crescent Moon down to the right of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
  
  
• March 28th/29th - early evening: Venus and a thin crescent Moon will be seen near the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters. If clear in the early evening of the 28th, Venus will be seen to the upper right of a very thin crescent Moon with both lying below the Hyades and Pleaides Clusters. On the following night, the crescent Moon will lie in the upper right of the Hyades Cluster Nice photo opportunities.
  
  
• March 31st - before Dawn: Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. If clear before dawn on the 31st, one will see a nice grouping of, from left to right, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter.
  
  
• March 15th evening: Mons Piton and Cassini Best seen close to third quarter, Mons Piton is an isolated lunar mountain located in the eastern part of Mare Imbrium, south-east of the crater Plato and west of the crater Cassini. It has a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2.3 km. Its height was determined by the length of the shadow it casts. Cassini is a 57km crater that has been flooded with lava. The crater floor has then been impacted many times and holds within its borders two significant craters, Cassini A, the larger and Cassini B. North of Mons Piton can be seen a rift through the Alpine Mountains (Montes Alpes). Around 166 km long it has a thin rille along its center. I have never seen it but have been able to image it as can be seen in the ‘8 day Moon’ part of the lunar section.
  
  

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during March 2020.