Celestial Events in March

• 1st: Venus and Mercury close together (1° 40' apart) in the early morning sky
• 3rd: Mercury at greatest elongation W
• 5th: Venus, Mercury and a thin crescent Moon are close together around dawn
• 8th: A very thin crescent Moon (1% waxing) may be seen for about an hour after sunset
• 11th: Mars passes 1° 43' north of M35 in the early hours
• 12th: Crescent Moon just north of Pleiades in early evening (shown at 20h30m UT)
• 15th: Gibbous Moon less than 1° from Mars at around 04h30m UT
• 20th: Spring equinox occurs at 05h48m UT
• 23rd: Rings of Saturn occult the star HIP50802 (mag. +10.3) at around 03h40m UT
• 25th: Venus and Mercury close together again
• 29th/30th: The Messier Marathon: This weekend presents an excellent opportunity to view 109 of the 110 objects in the Messier catalogue in one night (M30 is too close to the Sun as seen from the UK)
• 30th: British Summer Time begins at 01h00m UT
• Events visible all month:
Comet 46P/Wirtanen (magnitude around +9.9)

Next Meetings

The next meeting will be at the Smith Institute on Friday 11th April 2008, at 7:30 pm. All welcome.

Next Evening Class: Thursday 1st May 2008. Classes take place in the Highland Hotel on the first Thursday of the month, at 7:00 pm.

Further details on our Meetings page, or please contact us for more information.