The starry sky in March 2023
Goddess of love and father of the gods come close at the beginning of the month
The days are already getting noticeably longer, the sun is passing the equator (20th beginning of spring) and summer time starts again last weekend.
MOON
The moon will be full on March 7, which means that more light-intensive objects such as Jupiter and Saturn will be observed. At new moon on March 21, it will be much better for deep sky objects. (Deep sky objects are those located outside our solar system, i.e. star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, etc.)
The view into north direction The circumpolar constellations, which are visible all year round, include the Great Bear high in the north-east with the well-known asterism Big Dipper, the Little Bear with the Pole Star, around which the inconspicuous Dragon winds its way. In the northwest Cassiopeia and Cepheus. Just above the horizon, a very bright star, Deneb, the main star of the summer constellation Swan, could be visible from an elevated viewing position.
STAR PICTURES
After sunset you can enjoy the Western sky catch one last glimpse of the autumn constellations, such as Andromeda.
In the South the winter hexagon dominates with the winter constellations. These are Gemini, the Wagoner and Taurus, with the reddish main star Aldebaran, the Eye of Taurus, which is sometimes confused with Mars. Aldebaran is called Nanurjuk by the Inuit and symbolizes a polar bear. It was placed by dogs, we call this open star cluster Hyades. For the Inuit, the hunters who want to hunt down the polar bear are the three prominent belt stars of Orion and the bright Rigel. In Greek mythology, Orion also symbolizes the sky hunter, who is followed by the constellations of the Greater and Lesser Dog. The latter with the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. The most striking object in Orion is the famous Orion Nebula, an area in which new stars are formed. Some, such as the Trapezium stars, have a surface temperature of around 50,000 °K.
On Eastern sky Leo is visible and Virgo appears as the night progresses. But these are constellations that you can save for spring.
PLANETS
Mercury can be observed in the WNW sky after sunset at the end of the month. It will show its best evening visibility this year in April.
Venus shines brightly in the evening sky. Its angular distance from the Sun continues to increase. It will pass Jupiter at the beginning of the month. You will be able to see both planets simultaneously in the eyepiece of a 1000 mm telescope. On March 24, Venus will be close to the crescent moon. At the end of the month it will be close to Uranus.
Mars At just under first magnitude, Mars is still relatively bright, but its distance from Earth is already quite large (diameter 6 arc seconds), so that few details are recognizable.
Jupiter will be passed by Venus on March 1-2. On March 22, the narrow crescent moon can be seen next to it once again. It will disappear in the evening twilight at the end of March.
Saturn is not visible in the night sky.
Uranus is visible in the early evening hours. Venus passes it on 30.3.
Neptune is conjunct the Sun in the middle of the month and cannot be observed.
