Moon
New 1st 06:32
-- 18:22
First Quarter 8th 10:12
-- 01:33 Full 16th 18:18 -- 05:52
Last Quarter 24th 02:03 -- 10:46
New 30th 05:23 -- 18:34
This should be Spring,
but at the time of writing, it's anyone's guess though I have seen daffodils in
flower. The winter up to the end of January has been mild, though windy, so we
must wait and see. But promisingly, British Summer Time starts on the 30th of
March. It also reminds us that the long winter nights are coming to an end.
A Total Lunar Eclipse occurs
on the 15th but you probably won’t see it as it occurs as the Sun is
coming up in the east and the Moon is setting in the west, with the Earth
between. Mars will also be nearby. A Partial Solar Eclipse will also be equally
difficult to see.
Planets
Mercury should be
available in the east at about 6:05am as it rises. A mag 0.9/9 arcsec disc with
a 28% phase. It will soon be lost in the dawn twilight, and this will pertain
all month. It will rise earlier each morning and brighten too, from the 0.9 to
-0.1 by the end of the month, The phase will increase from the 28% to 76% and
it will brighten to mag -0.2 by the 31st. It will be drawing away from us so
its disc will reduce to 6arcsec by the end of March.
Venus will rise on the
1st just before 5am, a bright mag -4.3/22 arcsec disc, 54% illuminated. A week
later it will rise 10 mins earlier with little change in its parameters, and
the same applies on the 15th. On the 22nd it will be getting a bit slimmer and
dimmer as it rises at 4:35am, and by thec31st, it will still have changed
little from the start of the month, a little slimmer and a little dimmer, but a
bit larger in diameter. The morning star all month.
Mars will rise on the 1st
at 10pm at mag -0.5/12 arcsec. And will be in the sky till dawn twilight snuffs
it out at about 6:30am, but it will only get to 28° above the southern horizon.
By the 15th it will rise an hour earlier and present a mag -0,9/25 arcsec disc.
On the 31st it will rise at 8:30pm as evening twilight is darkening the sky and
its mag -1.3/15 arcsec disc will be seen till dusk, about 5:30pm. It will also
be a little bit higher in the sky sat 30°. This is almost as good as Mars gets,
a bit better next month.
Jupiter will be well up
in the sky as the evening sky darkens and will be there all month setting on
the 1st at 4:30am, a mag -2.5/42 arcsec disc. It will set a little later each
night as the month progresses, and it will also dim a bit to mag -2.3 and
shrink in diameter to 39 arcsec. By the 31st it will be almost due south and
60° up as the evening twilight darkens the sky.
Saturn will rise on the
1st at half an hour after midnight, a mag 0.4/17 arcsec disc with rings wide
open. It will rise to 20° above the southern horizon and fall to the west as
dawn lightens the sky, so not a very long time to study it. By the middle of
the month it will be rising at 11pm and be extinguished by the dawn soon after
5am. On the 31st it will rise at 11:30pm and be overtaken by dawn at about 6am.
Still not getting higher than 20° up at its highest.
Uranus will be available
for study on the first from about 6:30pm when released by evening twilight till
it sets a couple of hours later. It is really too close to the Sun to observe
for long, and gets closer as the month progresses, so worth the effort to see
its tiny mag 5.9/3 arcsec blue disc.
Neptune is also too close
to the Sun for sensible observation. In the east this time it rises less than a
half an hour before the Sun at best and its mag 8/2 arcsec disc will be easily
burned out by the dawn.
Meteor Showers
Only one known shower
peaking this month and that has a ZHR of 6. No other showers spreading into
March either.
Comets
ISON has frightened the
pundits from forecasting potentially good comets. However, there are three in
the eastern sky just before dawn on the 1st that may be worth a try
from about 3:00am. They are C/2014 C2 STEREO at mag 13 in Delphinus, C/2013 R1
Lovejoy at mag 12.5 in Ophiuchus and C/2012 X1 LINEAR at mag 11.6 in Aquila. By
the 8th STEREO will have moved to Pegasus and faded to mag 13.9,
Lovejoy will have faded to 12.7 and LINEAR will still be at 11.6. These are of
course, all forecasts based on heaven knows what, but based on the recent ISON
it could be based on the colour of the forecasters’ socks. By the 15th STEREO is out of contention Lovejoy continues
to fade, and LINEAR stays at 11.6. By the end of the month Lovejoy has faded a
bit more to 13.5 and LINEAR is still at 11.6. All are, point source mag
predictions and a fuzzy comet head will be much more difficult to see than a
point source.