{"id":879,"date":"2023-02-27T21:22:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T21:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/?p=879"},"modified":"2023-02-25T23:59:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T23:59:43","slug":"march-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/march-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"March 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Animated<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nmonth starts with a close paring of Venus and Jupiter. Look west as\ndarkness begins. With binoculars you may spot Vesta nearby. In a\ntelescope, Venus is gibbous and Jupiter has little companions called\nthe Galilean moons because Galileo was the first to see them. Venus\ntraverses Pisces the rest of the month, climbing above Jupiter while\nJupiter and the constellation head sunward and set earlier each\nevening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Animated<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Jupiter<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter\nbecomes hard to see in the last days of March. It sets soon after the\nsun. A thin crescent moon passes Jupiter on the 22nd<\/sup>.\nThe crescent thickens and passes Venus on the 23rd<\/sup>\nand 24th<\/sup>.\nMercury, emerging into the evening, appears close to Jupiter on the\n27th<\/sup>\nand 28th<\/sup>.\nThey’ll be 1.3\u00b0 apart. The view will be challenging anywhere on\nEarth. The pair are close to the horizon when darkness begins. In a\ntelescope, Mercury will appear gibbous. Mercury is slightly easier to\nsee by the 31st<\/sup>.\nThe messenger planet is at perihelion on the 31st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venus<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Venus’s\njourney takes it near Uranus on the 30th<\/sup>.\nBinoculars will reveal them 1.2\u00b0 apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Finder<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mars\nbegins March ready to pass by Elnath in Auriga as a gibbous moon is\nentering Gemini ahead of it. The red planet passes Elnath around the\n10th<\/sup>.\nIt’s near the feet of Gemini around the 26th<\/sup>.\nIt’s passed by a first quarter moon on the 27th<\/sup>\nand 28th<\/sup>.\nMars remains a good evening object all month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Saturn<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nwaxing gibbous moon is close to Pollux on the 2nd<\/sup>.\nIt’s near Regulus on the 5th<\/sup>.\nFull moon is on the 7th<\/sup>.\nThe moon passes Spica on the 10th<\/sup>.\nThe moon’s approaching last quarter when it passes Antares on the\n14th<\/sup>.\nLast quarter is the next day. A waning crescent passes Saturn on the\n19th<\/sup>.\nThe ringed planet is in Aquarius and emerging into the morning after\nconjunction last month. New moon is on the 21st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Saturn<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lunar\nphases this month: full on the 7th<\/sup>,\nlast quarter on the 15th<\/sup>,\nnew on the 21st<\/sup>,\nfirst quarter on the 29th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon is at apogee at the 3rd<\/sup>\nat 405,900 km distance. It’s at perigee on the 19th<\/sup>\nat 362,600 km away. A second apogree happens on the 31st<\/sup>\nat 405,000 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern\nlunistice is on the 1st<\/sup>\nat 27.7\u00b0 from the equator. The moon crosses the equator on the 9th<\/sup>,\nreaches southern lunistice on the 15th<\/sup>\nat 27.8\u00b0 from the equator, and crosses the equator again on the\n22nd<\/sup>.\nThe moon reaches northern lunistice again on the 28th<\/sup>\nat 27.9\u00b0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nearth is at equinox on the 20th<\/sup>\nat 21:25 UT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visibility<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nmoon passes in front of Venus on the 24th<\/sup>.\nIt’s a daytime event southern Africa and much of southern Asia. Since\nVenus is visible in the daytime if you know exactly where to look,\nviewers in those areas may see a white dot disappear from and\nreappear in a blue sky. A telescope or binoculars will help. Be\ncareful to keep the instrument from pointing at the sun. Southeastern\nAsia viewers will see the occultation in the evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The month starts with a close paring of Venus and Jupiter. Look west as darkness begins. With binoculars you may spot Vesta nearby. In a telescope, Venus is gibbous and Jupiter has little companions called the Galilean moons because Galileo was the first to see them. Venus traverses Pisces the rest of the month, climbing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-62"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":893,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skycaramba.com\/monthly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}