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The Moon and Planets in March 2010


The Major Planets in March 2010

The only planets readily visible in March will be Mars, all evening, and Saturn, visible to the east late evening.

The other three major planets will all be close to the Sun and virtually unobservable. The same applies to Uranus, while Neptune emerges from the morning twilight during the month.

New Zealand gets two full moons during March, in the early hours of March 1 and during the afternoon of March 30.
Mercury Venus Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

The planets in 2010: geocentric events and conjunctions Apparent sizes of the Planets in 2010

Bright Asteroids Jovian Satellites Saturn's Titan Artificial Satellites

Orbital diagrams for the inner planets November 2009 to March 2010,   April to July 2010, and the outer planets for 2010.

Date (NZDT) Diary of Solar System Events in March 2010 for New Zealand
March 1 Full Moon at 5.38am (Feb 28, 16:38 UT).
March 2 96% lit Moon 7° from Saturn, late evening sky.
March 3/4 89% lit Moon 3° from Spica, magnitude 1.1, late evening and morning sky.
March 7 60% lit Moon 5° below Antares, magnitude 1.1, brightest star in Scorpius, morning sky.
March 8 Moon at last quarter 4:42am NZDT (Mar 7, 15:42 UT).
March 9 Moon furthest south, so highest southern hemisphere transit for the month.
March 11 Mars stationary.
March 12 Moon at apogee, its greatest distance from the Earth for the Lunar month, 406007 km.
March 14 4% lit crescent Moon, 5° from Neptune, mag 8.0, low in dawn sky.
March 14 Mercury at superior conjunction.
March 15 1% lit crescent Moon, 5° from Jupiter, very low to east shortly before sunrise.
March 16 New Moon at 10:01am NZDT (Mar 15, 21:01 UT).
March 17 Uranus at conjunction with the Sun.
March 21 Southern autumn equinox, Sun on celestial equator at 6.33am NZDT (Mar 20, 17:33 UT).
March 22 Saturn at opposition.
March 22 Moon furthest north, so lowest southern hemisphere transit for the month.
March 23 Moon at first quarter 11.59pm NZDT (11:59 UT).
March 25 72% lit Moon less than 4° from Mars, evening sky.
March 27 90% lit Moon 3° from Regulus, magnitude 1.4, brightest star in Leo, closest 11pm.
March 28 Moon at perigee, its closest to the Earth for the lunar month, 361 877km.
March 29 99% lit Moon 6.5° above Saturn, evening sky.
March 30 Full Moon at 3.25pm NZDT (2:25 UT), second full moon for March in NZ.
March 31 98% lit Moon 3.5° from Spica, magnitude 1.1, late evening and morning sky.

Diary events derived from Dave Herald's OCCULT 4

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Mercury in March MERCURY will be a difficult morning object at the beginning of March. On the 1st it will rise 1 hour before the Sun and be about 5° up half an hour before sunrise. At magnitude -0.7 it should then be visible in binoculars a little way round to the south of east.

After the first morning or two of the month, the planet will become lost in the morning twilight. It will be a superior conjunction on the far side of the Sun on March 14. Following conjunction Mercury becomes an evening object setting shortly after the Sun, but even by the end of the month it will set only 30 minutes later, so will remain unobservable.

Venus in March VENUS will set just over half an hour after the Sun at the beginning of March, and 45 minutes after it at the end of the month. So Venus will remain a very low object to the west and difficult to observe throughout the month.



Mars in March MARS will be a prominent evening object throughout March. It will be fairly low object, highest and to the north at about 11 pm on March 1 and about 9 pm by March 31. It starts the month at magnitude -0.6, but will fade a little to +0.1 by the end of the month.

Mars will be in Cancer, it is stationary on the 11th after which it will start moving to the east again through the stars. This will take it towards the Praesepe (Beehive) star cluster, so that by the end of the month Mars will be 5° from the cluster.

On the 25th the Moon, 72% lit, will be about 3.5° to the upper left of Mars. The two are at their closest soon after midnight.

Jupiter in March JUPITER was at conjunction with the Sun at the end of February, so will become a morning object in March. By the end of the month, the planet will rise nearly two hours before the Sun, so be visible as a low bright object to the east in the dawn sky.

The very thin crescent Moon, just over 1% lit, will be just over 5° to the left of Jupiter on the morning of March 15. The two will be very low to the east making them difficult to see. This will be about 28 hours before New Moon making it a difficult object.

Saturn in March SATURN will be the best planet for viewing, after Mars, during March. It is at opposition on March 22, so will be best viewed late evening. Saturn is only just north of the celestial equator, so will get considerably higher in NZ skies than Mars. However, Saturn does not transit, when it is due north and at its highest, until after midnight during March.

The nearly full moon passes Saturn twice during March, on the night of March 2 and again on March 29. In both cases the Moon will be a little under 7° from Saturn at their closest.

Saturn's rings are still only open a slight amount, so will generally appear as a bar either side of the planet in a small telescope.
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