Planetary bonanza this month
March is the best time of the year for you to catch a glimpse of at least five planets. While Mercury, the innermost planet was visible till yesterday, you can still catch Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn for the rest of the month.
Venus is the second major planet in order of distance from the sun. Even novice stargazers will have no difficulty finding brilliant Venus, often called the morning or evening star. Venus is most often the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon.
The most dazzling planet of the solar system, Venus is right now visible over the western horizon after sunset, and will remain visible over the western horizon throughout the month. It can be clearly seen at 7:00 pm (IST) in the Pisces constellation. Even the twilight glow and city lights do little to dull the planet’s light. During the third week of March, the planet can be clearly seen in the western sky.
Mars is the resplendent yellow-orange planet in the solar system. The magnitude of Mars decreases by the month’s end. Look for Mars to be high over the southeast horizon at sunset, and setting a few hours before sunrise. During night, you can see the red planet around 7:00 pm (IST) over the southeast or almost in the western horizon. Mars can appear at any place in the sky on the ecliptic, rather than always staying near the sun, like Mercury and Venus.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest of the solar system, easily seen with the unaided eye. Jupiter can be seen around 6:45 pm IST over the east-southeast horizon at the beginning of the month, and quickly becomes a bright evening planet. It can be seen in the constellation Aries. Jupiter’s disk offers the backyard astronomer a wealth of ever-changing detail that can be seen in almost any telescope. Bright zones and dark belts vary in strength and change position slightly. Jupiter’s most famous single feature is the ‘Great Red Spot’, located just below the south equatorial belt. A telescope or binocular lets you experience the famous Galilean moons of Jupiter.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the outermost planet that can clearly been seen with the naked eye. Saturn rises about 1.30 am IST and will be visible throughout the morning sky, and high over the western horizon during sunrise. Saturn will come close to the earth on April 15 and is presently visible in morning sky till about 6:00 am.
Almost any telescope will show Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and at least three other moons will be seen with a six-inch telescope. To see Saturn’s low-contrast cloud features better, try using a blue filter or view in mid-twilight. Try to locate Uranus that lie between Venus and Jupiter with a powerful telescope.
Mohan Krishna S A
Full moons & a transit: A rare year, indeed
This year is a leap year and February had 29 days. As is well known, there can be on an average two full moons in a month of 30 or 31 days. It turns out that it is possible to have no full moon in a February containing 28 days (i.e in a non-leap year). This is supposed to happen about only four times in a century. It last occurred in 1999 and will next happen in 2018. Then in such a case January and March would have two full moons.
However what is more rare is a 29-day February (i.e in a leap year) without a full moon.
This freak event last occurred as long back as 1608 and presumably will not happen again till the year 2572. Truly rare astronomical event, concerning a common object like our moon!
Again let us not forget that June 6 this year will have another rare event, i.e. the transit of Venus when our nearest planetary neighbour crosses the face of the sun over a few hours. The last time this happened was eight years ago (June 8, 2004), yet another leap year. The next pair of Venus transits separated by eight years will not occur until 2117 and 2125, in the next century.
C Sivaram