The Night Sky in March 2023

For more details please consult – Astronomy – Sun – Moon – Eclipses (timeanddate.com) and In-The-Sky.org

Overview

Note – all times in GMT – add 1 hour for BST

The Moon      

Full Moon on 7th March at 1240.            Last Quarter Moon on 15th March at 0208

New Moon on 21st March at 1723          First Quarter Moon on 29th March at 0332

The Planets     

           Sun       Mercury   Venus     Moon    Mars      Jupiter     Saturn    Uranus

Rise     0620       0630       0713       0311      0922        0700        0553       0749

Set      1808      1748       2122       0923       0300        2001        1541       2305

In summary – Mercury is too close to the Sun this Month. Venus will be quite a nice object visible in the western sky after sunset. Mars is a visible from 2000 until 0100. Jupiter will be visible in the evening twilight. Saturn is too close to the Sun this month. Uranus is visible for a few hours after sunset in the west..

The Stars at 9pm GMT

North – Cassiopeia and Cepheus are nicely placed with the two Bears. Cygnus and Lyra are low down

East – Bootes, Coma,  Leo and Cancer nicely placed. Virgo is just beginning to rise – March is Galaxy Season and there are many fuzzy blobs to track down win this part of the sky.

South – Auriga is high up. Gemini, Orion and Monoceros are nicely placed. Canis Major and Lepus are low down

West – Perseus, Taurus – with Mars – and Auriga are high up. Andromeda is nicely placed. Pisces and Pegasus are low down

Meteor Showers:          No major showers this month

Bright Comet:    Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF has now faded to below 8th magnitude. There are no bright Comets visible this month. For further news on upcoming bright Comets please browse with website ….. https://in-the-sky.org/data/comets.php

Other phenomena to look out for

2023 has been a very good year for spotting the Tricky Lady [Northern Lights]. Around the Spring Equinox [approx. 21st March] can be a good time to spot any auroral activity. The Equinox is sometimes a good opportunity because of a connection between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field position as a result of the magnetic axis of the Earth being pointing perpendicular to the Sun-Earth line. For more information check here: Aurora Nights explains how Equinox Effects the Northern Lights (aurora-nights.co.uk) Also, there is lots of solar activity at the moment, sunspots etc – so if you have a Solar Filter check out the daily changes to Sunspots.

Night Sky View

Rendering from Carte du Ciel – Skycharts. en:start [Skychart] (ap-i.net)