In Manx skies... March 2008 ~ compiled by Dave Storey

Moon

New
7^th at 17.14h

First Quarter
14^th at 10.46h

Full
21^st at 18.40h

Last Quarter
29^th at 21.47h

There are no Lunar or Solar Eclipses this month.

Note: All times are Universal Time (UT)

Note BST starts on 30^th March. Add 1 hr. to any quoted times on and after this date.

Graphic © Copyright CalculatorCat.com

Mercury

Reaches greatest western elongation on the 3^rd at a angular distance from the sun of 27° . The planet will however be poorly place for observation from the Isle of Man. The planet is close to Venus at the start of the month.

Venus

Is a bright morning star, low down in the east. Due to the angle the ecliptic plane makes with the local horizon, the planet will be found within the bright early morning sky and will be poorly placed for observing this month.

Mars

Mars continues it withdrawal from the earth and will fade from magnitude 0.2 to 0.8. It can be found in the constellation of Taurus for the first four days of the month and remains in Gemini for the remainder. The planet is now far away and the details upon the Martian disc will now be difficult to see.

Click here for larger graphic (206kb)

Jupiter

Is a morning star in the constellation Sagittarius. As the planet will be low down, it will be a poor object to image through a telescope. However, it will remain a fascinating project to observe the movements of the four bright Galilean Satellites changing positions either side of the planet.

Saturn

Rises at 5pm at the beginning of the month and will be high in the sky one hour after sunset in Leo at months end. The planet remains in Leo and will be found closing in towards the bright star Regulus; from 5° to 3°. Of the two, Saturn will be the brighter at magnitude +0.3 compared to Regulus' magnitude of +1.4 Through the telescope, the rings will be angles towards the earth at about 9°
The bright moon Titan can be seen west of Saturn on 13^th ,14^th ,15^th ,29^th 30^th ,31^st and east of the planet on 5^th ,6^th ,7^th ,22^nd ,23^rd and 24^th.

Uranus

Is on the far side of the Sun and is not visible this month. It reaches solar conjunction on the 9^th.

Neptune

Is technically a morning object but is poorly placed for viewing this month.

Meteors

Verginids are active during the months of March and April. They may be seen at a low rate of 5 per hour at best. They are slow moving meteors and travel long distances across the sky. Maximum activity doesn't occur until April.

Algol

This star drops from magnitude +2.1 to +3.4 in about 5 hours. Minimum of this star is reached on the following dates as seen from the IoM: 1^st at 21.00h, 19^th at 01.54h and 21^st at 22.42h. Click here for star chart.

Comet

There are no predicted bright comets. As with previous months sky notes, it will be worth while keeping a eye on the very faint comet 17P Holmes. This comet is normally at a very faint magnitude of +19 but when into naked eye visibility in October 2007 and was naked eye into the New Year.