MERCURY and Venus will be visible in the morning sky less than 3°apart, and so within the same binocular field, throughout March. Mercury's magnitude ranges from 0.2 on March 1 to -0.5 on March 31, considerably brighter than any star near Venus. The March apparition of Mercury will be the best in the morning sky for the year for southern hemisphere viewers.

Mercury starts the month 1.5° to the upper left of Venus. Over the next few mornings it moves another degree or so above Venus. Both planets will be moving to the east through the stars and closing in on Neptune, magnitude 8.0 and visible in binoculars while the sky is fairly dark. On the morning of March 6 (NZDT) the three planets will be joined by the Moon which will be just left of Venus. Mercury and Neptune will be just over 4° apart with Venus and the Moon between them.

During the early hours the Moon will successively occult all three planets. None of the occultations is observable from New Zealand. The occultation of Mercury occurs before it rises, that of Venus is visible from the Pacific area to the north of NZ and further east, while the occultation of Neptune occurs after sunrise in NZ and eastern Australia. It is visible before sunrise in South Australia.

Venus moves past Neptune over the next couple of mornings and then Mercury is closest to and 1° to the left of Neptune on the morning of 10 March. By then Mercury will be almost 3° above Venus. The two will remain about this distance apart for the next week but get a little lower in the early twilight.

After mid March, Mercury will start closing in again on Venus, until on the morning of March 26 the two will be almost level with Mercury 1° to the right of Venus when the two will be about 3.5° above Uranus, magnitude 5.9.

Mercury is closest to Uranus on the morning of March 28, when it will be 1.6° to the right of, and slightly above Uranus. With Venus they will form a small triangle, see diagram below. By the last morning of the month Mercury will be only about 6° up 45 minutes before sunrise, and just over 3° below and to the right of Venus. At magnitude -0.6 it should be fairly easy to find, especially in binoculars. With the clocks still on NZDT it should be visible until well after 7 am.

VENUS remains prominent in the morning sky during March. It rises over 2 hours before the Sun on March 1 and just over 90 minutes before it on the 31st. As a result it will get a little lower in the morning twilight during the month.

As described above, Venus and Mercury will be no more than 3° apart throughout March. Early in the month they will pass Neptune, with Venus and Neptune closest on the morning of March 7, when the two will be just under 40' from each other. Neptune will be to the lower left of Venus.

Later in the month Venus and Mercury pass Uranus. On the morning of March 28, the three will form a small triangle fairly low to the east, with sides about 1.6°, as shown in the diagram. Uranus, magnitude 5.9, will be to the lower left of Venus. In addition, the asteroid (4) Vesta , magnitude 8.0, will be 3° to the right of Venus and 2° from Mercury so that Uranus, Mercury and Vesta form a straight line.

All four will be within the field of view of binoculars and should be visible in eg an 8x50 pair while the sky is still reasonably dark. The four bodies should be sufficiently close to one another to all be in a binocular field of view from the 26th to 30th of March.

Venus and Uranus are closest on the morning March 29, with the two 45' apart. On the following morning Venus will be lower than Uranus and a little further to the right, just over a degree away. Mercury will be on the opposite side of Venus to Uranus, twice as far away. On March 31 the three planets will form a diagonal line to the east. Venus will then be mid-way between the other two planets.

MARS will be in the evening sky all month. The orange planet is highest and due north in March shortly after sunset with an altitude of about 28° as seen from Northland but 10° lower from the extreme south of New Zealand.

On March 1, Mars sets at about 1 am NZDT on March 1, making it visible all evening. It will then have a magnitude 0.2. By March 31 it will have faded a little to magnitude 0.8 and set an hour earlier, so will be getting low by 11 pm. The planet starts March in Taurus, but moves into Gemini on the evening of March 5.

On the evening of March 15, the 60% lit Moon will be about 3.5° from Mars. Towards the end of the month the planet passes the 3rd magnitude star ε Gem, the two being only 15' (half the diameter of the full Moon) apart on March 30.

JUPITER remains a morning object throughout March. An hour before sunrise it will be fairly high, to the east at the beginning month and half way round to the northeast by the end of the month. Jupiter will be in Sagittarius a few degrees from the "Teapot's Handle".

The Moon passes Jupiter twice during March. On the morning of the 3rd the 25% lit Moon will be about 5° from Jupiter: the Moon will occult the star Nunki, σSgr, magnitude 2.1 just before sunrise. On the last morning of the month, the 42% lit Moon will be less than 3° from the planet.

SATURN is visible all evening throughout March, although it will be rather low early evening at the beginning of the month. By the end of the month, Saturn will transit, and so be due north and at its highest, soon after 11 pm NZDT.

Saturn remains in Leo during March, 5° from the constellation's brightest star, Regulus magnitude 1.4 on the 1st and 3° from the star on the 31st. On March 19 the nearly full Moon, 94% lit, will be 3° from Saturn early evening, dropping to 2° late evening. The two are closest in about 3am the following morning, some 1.7° apart. Close to sunset on the 19th the Moon will occult Regulus.