As of: February 27, 2024, 7:12 p.m
By: Tanja Banner
Comments
Press
Split
From the rising of Leo to the crescent moon's encounter with Beta Tauri, March offers fascinating insights into the world of astronomy.
Munich – The spring constellations have been visible in the sky late at night for some time now.
In March the time has finally come: astronomical spring officially begins on March 20, 2024 at 4:06 a.m.
During the evening, winter constellations such as Orion with its nebula, the Great Dog with the conspicuously flashing Sirius or Taurus with the open star cluster of the Pleiades can still be observed in the south and west.
As dusk falls, however, Leo, one of the most striking spring constellations, rises in the east.
At midnight at the latest, Orion and his companions retreat to the west while the spring constellations dominate the sky.
Below Leo stretches the expansive constellation of the Water Serpent.
In less clear skies, only a single star may be visible, aptly named “Alphard,” meaning “the lonely one.”
Rare encounter in the night sky in March
A special event in March is the visit of the crescent moon to the star Beta Tauri.
It is also called Elnath and forms the right horn tip of the constellation Taurus.
Uwe Pilz from the Association of Star Friends (VdS) explains to
merkur.de
from
IPPEN.MEDIA
: “This encounter is rare because the moon has to be very far north for this to happen.”
He adds: “The moon’s orbit is tilted about five degrees from the ecliptic.
Every 18 years the time comes: when the moon passes through its northernmost point anyway, these five degrees are added.
Only then can he reach Beta Tauri”.
What can be seen in the starry sky?
The monthly overview shows it.
© imago/StockTrek Images
This rare encounter can be observed late in the evening of March 16th.
Beta Tauri, a blue-white star, is among the 50 brightest stars in the night sky, is about 130 light-years from Earth and has about 700 times the luminosity of our Sun.
Planets in March 2024: Mercury, Venus and Jupiter
In March, not only stars but also several planets can be seen in the night sky.
The smallest and closest planet to the sun, Mercury, is particularly interesting: it offers the best evening visibility of the year from mid-March.
From March 15 to 26, you should be able to see the planet low in the west just after sunset.
For example, on March 15, it should appear around 7:15 p.m. before setting at 7:48 p.m.
Venus can be seen in the morning sky for a short time at the beginning of March, but then soon disappears.
The planet Mars can only be seen in the morning sky for a few minutes in March before it is faded by the light of the sun.
But his observation time is yet to come - in summer he can be seen for several hours in the second half of the night.
The planet Saturn cannot be seen in the sky at all in March.
Jupiter shines brightly in the first half of the night
The most noticeable planet in March is Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
It can be seen high in the sky at dusk and shines brightly in the sky in the first half of the night.
Jupiter is considered the second brightest planet in our sky - only Venus shines brighter.
However, Jupiter sets at around 11 p.m. at the beginning of March.
As the month progresses, the giant planet disappears below the horizon earlier and earlier - at the end of March it can no longer be seen at 10 p.m.
There will be a visual highlight on March 13th: The waxing crescent moon will be in the sky near the gas giant.
(tab)
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
Learn more about our AI principles here
.