March 2020

Phases of the Moon

Venus

The planet remains in the evening sky, and on March 24 it reaches its greatest eastern elongation, i.e., its angular distance from the Sun has the greatest value of 46 degrees. Its brightness rises up to (-4.5) mag, which makes it far the brightest object in the evening sky. Moreover, it sets down about 4 hours after sunset, so you should have no problems to find it with naked eyes through the whole month. On March 7-8 in the evening, the planet Uranus will be placed about 2 degrees south-east to Venus and should be found by binoculars easily.

Mars Jupiter and Saturn on the Morning Sky

These three planets are located on the morning sky, whereby Mars will be very close to Jupiter on March 20. Try to observe this "meeting" with binoculars mounted on a tripod and you will see three moons of Jupiter -- namely, Io, Ganymede and Callisto -- close to the western rim of Jupiter. Mars will be located less than one degree to south-west. On March 17-19, this group of three planets will be visited by a thin Moon. Since this event will be located quite low over the south-eastern horizon, use binoculars for your observation. It should be a beautiful sight!