March skies will be full of sights for Arizona star watchers
Mar 4, 2020, 2:00 PM
With spring in the air, we get to experience some of the best skies of all 2020!
As Arizona does not turn on Daylight Saving Time we make up for that with some really interesting sights to see in both the evening and morning skies.
Spring or the vernal equinox, occurs in Arizona on March 19 at 8:49 p.m.
This marks a true turning point for observers here in Arizona, as the sun will rise much earlier and set later. March daylight will reach some 12 hours and 32 minutes long by month’s end.
Our sky tour begins with the moon.
The month opened with the moon moving on to first quarter March 2. The phase tunes gibbous, as the moon reaches its full phase March 9. Welcome the full worm moon,
a super moon too!
The full worm moon will rise at 6:49 p.m. on March 9, rising in the northeast sky. The moon will be some 222,647 miles from your eye.
Last quarter moon comes March 16, as the moon marches on to a thin waning crescent, reaching its new phase eight days later.
Get set for some great view of the planets, with Venus taking center stage.
The brightest of the major planets and the nearest of the major planets at times, Venus reaches its greatest elongation from the sun on March 24.
Look high in the west, as Venus will appear some 47 degrees from the setting sun.
At that time, telescopic observers will notice that Venus will appear as a tiny half-illuminated disk and very bright.
In the sky for well over three hours, Venus is the true goddess of love and beauty, but upon closer inspection, Venus is a hostile planet with temperatures on her surface well
over 900 degrees.
The majority of the major planets, will appear in the morning sky and put on some great conjunctions.
Plan on viewing the triple conjunction of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn on the morning of March 26. Best viewing will occur by and hour before local sunrise, in the SE sky.
On that date, these planets will lie within a circle of 7 degrees.
Before that date, another close encounter of planets will occur on the morning of March 20, when both Mars and Jupiter will come within 0.7 degrees of each other.
This is an interesting sight to see, as Mars will begin its long march towards Earth.
Mars will be the most spectacular planet in our Arizona skies in October!
Mars will return within 38 million miles of Earth.
While viewing these great morning planet line-ups, look low in the east sky for Mercury.
Mercury will be at its greatest elongation from the sun on the morning of March 23. At that time, Mercury will appear 28 degrees ahead on the rising sun.
For dark sky enthusiasts, take advantage of the new moon on March 24, as the darkest of Arizona’s night sky will be there for you to find those faint star clusters, galaxies and other amazing sky objects!
To print your very own star chart, click here.
To view satellites/dates/times of passage, click here.
Listen to Dr. Sky on KTAR News 92.3 FM every Saturday at 3 a.m.
