Mercury - at magnitude 0.1 and has an apparent diameter of 7.4" and an illumination of 53% when it is at greatest western elongation on the morning of March 3. The angular separation of the planet from the Sun is a near maximum 27.7 degrees but for mid-northern latitude observers Mercury is only five degrees above the eastern horizon shortly before the Sun rises.

Venus - visible in the morning sky during February. Look for it about 15 to 10 degrees up in the SE at sunrise during the month. Venus will be magnitude -3.9. Through a telescope, the planet will appear gibbous, with an apparent diameter that decreases from 13 to 11 arc-seconds.

Mars - is due north of the first magnitude red giant star Betelgeuse on March 1. Three days later the Red Planet leaves Taurus and reenters Gemini. Mars is situated less than two degrees north of the bright open cluster M35 for several days centered on March 10. It is within 0.3 degree of the third magnitude star Epsilon Geminorum on March 29 and March 30. By the end of March, Mars has faded from magnitude 0.2 to magnitude 0.8 and has declined in apparent size from 9.1 arc seconds to 7.0 arc seconds.

Jupiter - will be in the southeastern morning sky early in the month. As the month goes on Jupiter climbs higher and rises sooner every morning. It comes up around 4AM early in the month then around 2:30AM late in the month. The best time to observe it then is about an hour before dawn when it has climbed a bit higher off the horizon. By late in the month it shines at magnitude -2.0. Only the much lower Venus shines brighter in this area of the sky. Jupiter is a big target so it will be a good target even if it is not way above the horizon. Its banded surface and 4 orbiting moons make it a great sight even through a small telescope.

For detailed postions of Jupiter's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Saturn - continues to approach Regulus as it retrogrades to the west. Its disk subtends 20 arc seconds and its rings span 45 arc seconds. At mid-month, the rings are inclined at approximately nine degrees. Since Saturn is now past opposition, the shadow of the planet becomes more prominent on the eastern portion of the far side of the rings.

Titan (magnitude 8.4) passes north of Saturn on the nights of March 9 and March 25 and south of it on the nights of March 1 and March 17. During March, Rhea shines at a magnitude of 9.7, Tethys at 10.2, Dione at 10.4, and Enceladus at 11.3. At 11:00 p.m. EDT on the night of March 18, seven of Saturn's moons are visible. Enceladus and Iapetus lie to the west of the ball of the planet and Mimas, Tethys, Rhea, Dione, and Titan will be positioned in increasing distance to the east. Iapetus is just north of Saturn on the night of March 18 and is east or west of the planet by the listed separations at 0:00 UT on the following dates: March 1 (39" west), March 7 (33" west), March 11 (24" west), March 15 (13" west), March 19 (1" west), March 21 (5" east), March 25 (17" east), and March 31 (31" east). Iapetus shines at magnitude 10.1, about five times brighter than its minimum, when it lies to the west of Saturn.

The Cassini spacecraft continues its observation of Saturn and its many moons and rings. For the latest images from Cassini, see:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

For detailed postions of Saturn's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Uranus - will be nearly invisible this month. It will be lost in the twilight of the morning glare. On the morning of the 6th Venus will be around 1º south of Neptune. Even with the bright Venus to help find it, Neptune s tiny bluish disk will hard to spot in the morning glare shinning at only magnitude 8.0.

A finder chart for Uranus can be found Here.

Neptune - will be nearly invisible this month. It will be lost in the twilight of the morning glare. On the morning of the 6th Venus will be around 1º south of Neptune. Even with the bright Venus to help find it, Neptune s tiny bluish disk will hard to spot in the morning glare shinning at only magnitude 8.0.

A finder chart for Neptune can be found Here.

Pluto - will sit above Jupiter in the morning sky. It sits in the constellation Ophiuchus. Since it will not be sitting high in the sky Pluto will be tough to see. Toward the end of the month, in the hours before dawn, Pluto will have climbed high enough in the sky to be a potential target. Pluto is always a very tough target. You need dark skies, a good chart, at least an 8 telescope and pati

Eris (pronounced "EE-ris") - formerly known as Xena, 2003 UB313, and "the tenth planet" - is magnitude 19 in central Cetus, high in the south during evening.

For detailed information please visit Astronomical Delights

Corona-Australid Meteor Shower - occurs on March 16. The first quarter moon will be setting about Midnight, and the light of the moon will not seriously hamper late night/early morning meteor observing of this very short duration and very southerly shower. This brief shower, emanating as its name implies from within the southern constellation of Corona Australis, begins typically around March 14 and members can be traced back to that radiant until March 18; from the United States and Europe, this shower never gets above 7 degrees for its radiant, but brighter meteors can be seen streaking from south to north from it; as many as 5-7 meteors can be seen hourly in good conditions as we should have this year, weather permitting.

Comet 17P/Holmes - is high in the sky throughout winter, being circumpolar in the constellation of Perseus amid a very rich star field each night. Although the original predictions call for this comet to be an inconspicuous 17th magnitude, be sure to monitor it nightly!

Comet 46P/Wirtanen - travels through Auriga. On the nights of March 24 and 25, the ninth magnitude periodic comet passes just south of IC 405 (the Flaming Star Nebula). It is within the same high-magnification field of view as the reflection and emission nebula NGC 1931 on the night of March 27. On the next night, 46P/Wirtanen is less than 30' north of the open cluster M36.