Celestial Events 
by Thomas D. Nicholson 
The Moon The waning crescent 
moon will be in the east to greet early 
risers on the first few days of March. 
The moon will then disappear as it 
passes between the earth and sun and 
becomes new on the 6th. The evening 
crescent should show up in the western 
sky at dusk on about the 9th, waxing 
to first-quarter on the 12th. From then 
until full moon on the 20th, expect 
bright moonlight during early evening 
hours and throughout all or most of 
the night. Last-quarter is on March 
28, the next new moon on April 4, 
and first-quarter on April 11. Perigee 
moon (nearest the earth) is on March 
8 and April 5; apogee (farthest from 
the earth) on March 24. 
Stars and Planets We haven’t seen 
bright planets in the evening sky since 
summer, but now, at long last, Jupiter 
and Saturn are back in and Virgo is 
to the right of its bright star, Spica. 
They are quite close to one another, 
rising in the east after dark and high 
in the south about midnight. Jupiter 
is easily the brighter of the two, the 
brightest starlike object you will see 
at night this month. Saturn, a little 
to its left and above it, is less than 
one-fifth Jupiter’s brightness, about as 
bright as Spica. Both planets are shift- 
ing west through the stars, as you can 
see by watching them drift slowly 
away from Spica. But they will remain 
close to one another through this com- 
ing summer. Jupiter and Saturn are 
also prominent in the morning sky, 
where they set in the west at about 
dawn. All the planets are morning 
stars until late in March except Mars, 
which becomes one in early April, 
when Jupiter and Saturn are techni- 
cally evening stars. None of the other 
planets are located where they can 
be seen. 
The sun, in March, moves easterly 
through the stars of Aquarius until 
the 13th; it then enters Pisces. Mer- 
cury moves from Capricornus to 
Aquarius, Venus from Aquarius to Pis- 
ces, and Mars from Aquarius also to 
Pisces, but with a brief skip through 
a corner of Cetus. Jupiter, Saturn, 
and Pluto are in Virgo, Uranus in 
Libra, and Neptune in Ophiucus. 
March 1: Mercury is stationary 
among the stars and resumes its direct 
(easterly) motion as a morning star. 
March 11-12: The bright star near 
the moon tonight is Aldebaran, in Tau- 
rus. The moon passes very close above 
Aldebaran at about 12:00 a m., EST, 
on the 12th, so close that it covers 
the star (an occultation) over northern 
Canada and Alaska. 
March 1 5: Mercury is at its greatest 
westerly elongation (greatest distance 
to the right of the sun). That would 
ordinarily be an excellent position for 
a morning star. But this is not a good 
elongation; the planet rises too late 
and too slowly to be seen in the morn- 
ing twilight. 
March 20: The sun arrives at the 
vernal equinox at 12:03 p.m., EST, and 
spring begins in the Northern Hemi- 
sphere (autumn south of the Equator). 
Although today is the official date 
of the “equinox” (meaning night and 
day are of equal length), the length 
of the day (the interval from sunrise 
to sunset) has been more than twelve 
hours since the 17th. The full moon 
is near Jupiter and Saturn tonight. 
Watch it drift slowly above the two 
planets, passing closest to Jupiter at 
about 8:00 p.m., EST, and to Saturn 
about three hours later. 
March 26: Jupiter and Saturn are 
at opposition, located opposite the sun 
in our sky. They now move into the 
evening sky, rising before sunset, set- 
ting before sunrise. 
April 2: Mars is in conjunction with 
the sun, ending its long sojourn as 
an evening star. Although it now be- 
comes a morning object, it will not 
be worth looking for until next De- 
cember. 
April 4-5: New moon is on the 4th, 
perigee about twenty-four hours later. 
The effect of perigee will enhance the 
usually strong spring tides. Expect ex- 
ceptionally high tides the night of 
April 5. 
April 7: Venus is in superior con- 
junction, in line with the sun and earth 
but beyond the sun. The planet now 
leaves the morning sky and becomes 
an evening star, but not a very promi- 
nent one until June. 
The rings of Saturn 
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