British Summer Time is in effect from 31st March 2013 – times below are in UTC (GMT) except for those occurring after the clocks change!
The Sun
2nd March 2013 | 7th March 2013 | 12th March 2013 | 17th March 2013 | 22nd March 2013 | 27th March 2013 | 1st April 2013 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sunrise | 06:57 UTC | 06:45 UTC | 06:34 UTC | 06:22 UTC | 06:09 UTC | 05:57 UTC | 06:45 BST |
Sunset | 17:52 UTC | 18:01 UTC | 18:11 UTC | 18:20 UTC | 18:29 UTC | 18:38 UTC | 19:47 BST |
Vernal (Spring) Equinox occurs on Wednesday, 20th March 2013, 11:02 UTC
The Moon
Last Quarter | New Moon | First Quarter | Full Moon | Last Quarter | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | 4th March 2013 | 11th March 2013 | 19th March 2013 | 27th March 2013 | 3rd April 2013 |
Time | 21:53 UTC | 19:51 UTC | 17:27 UTC | 09:28 UTC | 05:37 BST |
The Moon will pass close to Jupiter on March 18th – see the entry for Jupiter below.
Planets
Mercury
There is a morning apparition of Mercury during the middle of March however it will be extremely difficult to see from this latitude.
Venus
Venus is approaching Superior Conjunction (reaching it on 29th March 2013) and cannot be observed.
Mars
Mars is also unobservable at present, due to its approaching Solar Conjunction next month.
Jupiter
Jupiter is still in Taurus (the bull) and easy to spot. Even good binoculars or a small telescope will show its four largest satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
As our own Moon crosses the sky over the month, it will pass about 2½° to the South of Jupiter at about 02:00 UTC on the night of March 18th 2013.
Saturn
Saturn recently passed its Greatest Western Quadrature in January 2013, and as a consequence the planet is tilted as viewed from Earth, and therefore so are its rings. When they ‘open’ to us at this angle, their shadow is cast on to the atmosphere of Saturn and this should be observable with a telescope. The planet can currently be found in the constellation of Virgo (the virgin).
Comets
Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS) begins the month being a Southern Hemisphere object, however as March progresses it will steadily become easier to view from our latitude – assuming it is still visible at all. Due to their inherent (and poorly understood) structure, Comets are notoriously temperamental and predictions for brightness must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Pan-STARRS is not expected to be a brilliant comet however with luck it will be observable with binoculars later in March in the evening sky.
Occultations
Date | Time | Event | Object Occulted | Occulted by |
---|---|---|---|---|
4th March 2013 | 04:09 UTC | Reappearance | Omega-Scorpii | The Moon |
6th March 22013 | 06:30 UTC | Reappearance | Mu-Sagittarii | The Moon |