Skywatch March 2006

by Julene M Packer-Johnson

Skywatch Stargazing Archives

Venus and Jupiter are visible in the mornings of March while Mars and Saturn are visible in the evenings. Mercury begins the month as an evening star, disappears to conjunct the sun and then returns later in the month as a morning star. Two visible planets station retrograde in March: Mercury and Jupiter. Venus reaches greatest western elongation. The Vernal Equinox occurs with the Sun's ingress into Aries. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs with March's full moon and is followed by a total solar eclipse at the new moon.

Mercury's Inferior Conjunction, Retrograde, & Shadow Period
Mercury reaches inferior conjunction with the Sun on March 11th at 9:44 p.m. This means that Mercury, Sun and Earth are aligned with Mercury in the middle on the same side of the Sun as Earth.

All planets are retrograde when closest to Earth and on the same side of the Sun. When inner planets (Mercury or Venus) reach inferior conjunction, they are at the midpoint of their retrograde period. Mercury is retrograde 3 times a year for 23 days each time. Mercury's retrograde station occurs on March 2nd at 3:29 p.m. EST. Mercury's direct station occurs on March 25th at 8:42 a.m. EST.

Retrogradation causes planets to make a triple pass through certain degrees of the zodiac. The shadow period of a retrograde begins when the planet first hits the degree it will pass over three times and ends when it hits the latest degree the third time. For instance, Mercury stations retrograde on the 2nd at 26Pisces52. Mercury stations direct on the 25th at 13Pisces11. Mercury will pass three times over these degrees and those between. The shadow period begins when Mercury first reaches 13Pisces11, February 16th. The shadow period ends when Mercury last crosses 26Pisces52, April 14th.

Venus Reaches Greatest Western Elongation
Both inner planets are never far from the Sun. Mercury travels only 28 degrees away from the Sun and Venus can only travel 48 degrees away from the Sun. As a result, they have terminology of "greatest western (or eastern) elongation" to specify when they are at their orbital limit. Venus reaches greatest western elongation on the 25th at 2:00 a.m. EST. Thus she will climb higher and higher in the pre-dawn sky each day until then this month.

Jupiter Retrograde
Jupiter stations retrograde on March 4th at 1:02 p.m. EST. He remains retrograde until July.

The Evening Sky in the Northern Hemisphere
As the sun sets on the evening of March 1st, look for Mercury low along the western horizon. The Messenger is setting after the Sun. He sets around 7:30 p.m. on the 1st and around 7:00 p.m. on the 6th when he becomes lost in the glow of sunset. He will move west (retrograde) as the sun moves east, and the pair will conjunct on the 11th. Mercury retrograde will continue to move west of the sun and reappear as a morning star at the end of the month.

Turn your gaze south as the skies darken and look for Orion. Above and to the right, you'll find Mars among the stars of Taurus. Above and to the left, you'll find Saturn among the dim stars of Cancer. Mars sets around 1:15 a.m. in the beginning of March, followed by Saturn around 5:15 a.m. Mars sets around 12:30 a.m. on the 31st, followed by Saturn around 3:15 a.m.

Mars moves about 15 degrees this month and you can track his eastward movement against the fixed stars Taurus. Go outside at the same time each night, so your orientation is the same. If you choose 8:30 p.m., you'll notice Mars above Pleiades and to the right and lower than Aldebaran. Watch each night as Mars pulls further away from Pleiades and approaches Aldebaran. The Moon joins on the 5th for a spectacular view. The Moon will be beneath Mars who is now visually next to Aldebaran in the night sky. By month's end, Mars will be near the end of Taurus and you'll find him between and slightly below the two horn stars: El Nath (to Mars' right) and Zeta Tauri (to Mars' left).

The Morning Sky in the Northern Hemisphere
Jupiter rises around midnight on March 1st and 10:00 p.m. on the 31st. He is among the stars of Libra. Venus rises around 5:00 a.m. on the 1st between the stars that create the stick figures of the constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus. On the 31st, Venus rises around 4:14 a.m. near the boundary of Capricornus and Aquarius. You won't notice Jupiter's movement this month. He is slow due to his retrograde station and only moves backward one degree.

Venus, on the other hand, covers a lot of sky this month. She begins March inside the boundary of Sagittarius. On the morning of the 6th, she will be fully inside Capricorn's boundary. However, there are no stars to mark this boundary, just a man made line on a sky map, so we can't really see this. We can notice Venus pull away from Sagittarius and near Capricornus during this time. The morning of the 10th, provides us with something to notice. Venus will be just below Debih and Al Geidi of the goat's head. Watch as Venus makes her way across the sea goat's back. On the morning of the 20th, Venus will be above the Theta Capricorni, where the goat's rear sea legs meet his body. On the morning of the 29th, Venus will be above Deneb Algeidi, Capricorn's last star. The bright star you see above Venus and slightly left will be Sadal Suud of Aquarius.

Mercury appears as a morning star at the end of the month. He rises around 5:30 a.m. on the 25th and around 5:20 on the 31st.

The Moon as your Celestial Tour Guide - Northern Hemisphere

On the evening of the 5th, look for a reddish star that is not twinkling just above the moon. That will be Mars. Planets do not like twinkle like stars because planets reflect the light of the Sun. Stars blink because they produce nuclear fusion at their cores, create their own light energy and therefore twinkle in their own unique way.

On the evening of the 9th, look for Saturn to the left of the moon. Saturn will be dim compared to Pollux of Gemini who lies to the right of the moon. On the evening of the 10th, look for Saturn below and slightly right of the moon.

On the morning of the 19th, look for Jupiter above the moon. On the morning of the 26th, look for Venus above the moon. Both of these planets are bright and easy to distinguish from dimmer stars near by. Venus is nearly twice as bright as Jupiter.

Your best bet for locating Mercury in the morning is on the 27th with the aide of a slender balsamic moon. Look for Mercury to the left and slightly above the Moon. Mercury is very dim compared to Venus. In fact 3 stars of Pegasus that shine brighter than Mercury will be easier to spot in the pre-dawn skies; Markab, Schat, and Enif shine as bright as Jupiter.

The Evening Sky in the Southern Hemisphere
It is not likely that the angle of the ecliptic will allow you to view Mercury as an evening star this month. As the skies darken on the evening of the 1st, look for Mars in the northwest sky between the Pleiades and Aldebaran of Taurus. Saturn will be in the northeast sky among the stars of the constellation Cancer. Mars sets around 11:30 p.m. DST at the beginning of March, followed by Saturn around 4:00 a.m. DST. At the end of March, Mars sets around 10:30 p.m. DST followed by Saturn around 2:00 a.m. DST.

Mars covers a lot of sky this month. If you go outside at 9:00 each night to observe the red planet, you can watch his eastward direct movement against the fixed star backdrop of Taurus. On the 1st, Mars will be to the right of Pleiades and below and left of Aldebaran. On the evening of the 7th, Mars will appear to be directly below Aldebaran, increasing the distance from the Seven Sisters cluster. By the 31st, Mars will make his way nearly across Taurus to lie between and just left of the bull's horns Zeta Tauri and Elnath, above and below.

The Morning Sky in the Southern Hemisphere
Jupiter rises around 11:00 p.m. DST on the 1st among the stars of Libra. By month's end, Jupiter will rise around 9:00 p.m. DST. Jupiter is moving slowly due to his retrogradation. Covering only one degree of sky this month, it will be difficult at best to determine any movement from the jovial giant.

Venus rises around 4:45 a.m. DST on March 1st between the stars that create the image of Sagittarius the Archer and Capricornus the Sea Goat. Venus is nearly due east when she peaks above the horizon and her rise time stays fairly consistent throughout March. However, her movement is quite noticeable against the stars of Capricornus. Watch Venus move towards Dabih and Al Giedi of the sea goat's head. On the morning of the 10th, Al Giedi will be close to her lower left corner. She will move further through Capricornus toward Aquarius as the month progresses. On the morning of the 30th, she will be to the left of the last star of Capricornus: Deneb Algeid. The bright star to her left and a little lower is Sadal Suud of Aquarius.

Mercury peaks above the eastern horizon around 6:15 a.m. DST on the 21st. He will get easier to spot throughout the remainder of March. On the 31st, he rises at 5:30 a.m. DST. You should have nearly an hour to catch a glimpse of the messenger before the sun light of dawn encroaches to blot him from sight.

The Moon as your Celestial Tour Guide - Southern Hemisphere
On the evening of the 6th, look for Mars to lie above and left of the moon. On the evening of the 10th, look for Saturn to lie above and right of the moon.

On the morning of the 19th, Jupiter will be above the Moon. She will dance on past by the next morning. Jupiter will be below the Moon on the morning of the 20th. On the morning of the 26th, look for Venus below the moon. The moon joins Mercury in the pre-dawn sky on the 28th. Look for Mercury to the upper right of the moon.

The Vernal Equinox
The Sun enters 00Aries on March 20th at 1:26 p.m. EST and we experience the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. Why does the vernal equinox coincide precisely with the Sun entering Aries? The answer lies in the celestial mechanics of the seasons from which the tropical zodiac is decided.

Mechanics of the Seasons
Look at your globe, or recall one in your mind. Notice the three major horizontal circles on the globe: the Equator in the center, the Tropic of Capricorn south of that, with the Tropic of Cancer to the north. Extend the Equator into space and create a great circle known as the Celestial Equator. Now imagine another circle that passes over the globe at roughly a 23 degree slant with the boundaries being the two Tropic circles. You've now visualized the Ecliptic Plane. Notice that it crosses the Celestial Equator in two places. These places are 00 Aries in the East and 00 Libra in the West. The solstices of 00 Cancer and 00 Capricorn occur at the sun's maximum declination where the Ecliptic meets the tropic of the same name. While the Sun is stationary and Earth is rotating around it, the Sun appears to travel through our sky and defines the ecliptic plane with its apparent path.

When the Sun reaches the intersection of the Celestial Equator & Ecliptic in the east, we experience the vernal equinox. We call that intersection 00 Aries and mark it the beginning of the tropical zodiac. The tropical zodiac corresponds to earth's seasons and therefore connects man to the rhythmic cycles of our planet Earth.

The Difference between the Tropical & Sidereal Zodiacs
The sidereal zodiac follows the fixed stars of the zodiac that populate the ecliptic plane. When you look up this month and see Mars among the stars of the constellation Taurus you are witnessing the sidereal zodiac and the planet's connection to the stars above. When you look in the ephemeris and see Mars in Gemini, you are witnessing the tropical zodiac and the planet's connection to the seasonal cycles of earth below. The tropical zodiac shows Mars at 5 ñ 21 Gemini as being 65 - 81 degrees from the vernal Aries point. The difference in degrees between the sidereal & tropical zodiacs is called ayanamsha. Currently the ayanamsha is 23 degrees and 56 minutes.

Precession of the Equinoxes
When the Greeks developed horoscopy, the tropical and sidereal zodiacs aligned. It was in about 130 B.C. that Hipparchus discovered the equinox was moving backwards from the fixed star background. This happens because of the procession of the equinoxes. Precession occurs because the earth's poles wobble like a top and over 26,000 years traces out a small circle in the heavens. This is what causes the pole stars to change. Currently our pole star is Polaris. In 1,000 BC it was Kochab of Ursa Minor. In 3,000 BC the pole star was Thuban of Draco. We will cycle through a few more pole stars before we make the 26,000 year return to Thuban: Alrai and then Alderamin of Cepheus, followed by Vega of Lyra.

The complete precession cycle of 26,000 years can be broken down into sub-cycles. It takes 2,166.6 years for the vernal equinox to move backwards through one sign of the zodiac. It takes 72.2 years for the vernal equinox to precess through one degree of a sign.

March 2006 Moon Data
The First Quarter Moon occurs on the 6th at 3:16 p.m. EST. The moon reaches apogee on the 12th at 8:45 p.m. EST and will be 252,450 miles from Earth. On the 14th, a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse occurs with the Full Moon at 6:35 p.m. EST. The Third Quarter Moon occurs on the 22nd at 2:10 p.m. EST. The Moon reaches perigee on the 28th at 2:13 a.m. and will be 223,177 miles from Earth. A Total Solar Eclipse occurs on the 29th with the New Moon at 5:15 a.m.

Visibility of March's Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs on March 14th with the New Moon at 23:35 GMT. The eclipse begins around 4:21 EST (21:21 GMT) and ends around 9:13 p.m. EST. (02:13 GMT on March 15th). Mid-eclipse occurs around 6:48 p.m. EST (23:48 GMT).

The beginning of the eclipse is visible from western Australia and most of Asia (excluding the northeast), through the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, to Greenland and eastern South America.

The end of the eclipse is visible from the western Indian Ocean and western Asia, through the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Greenland, the Atlantic Ocean, South America, Central America, North America (excluding the northwest), to the east Pacific Ocean.

Observers in the USA and Canada east of the Rockies, watch for the moon to rise just after sunset. See if it appears dimmer or more gray than usual. It will become yellowish close to mid-eclipse time. See if you notice the moon brighten up after it leaves the penumbral shadow of earth.

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Mechanics - And What to Expect Visually
A penumbral lunar eclipse means that the moon enters only the Earth's penumbral shadow. The earth casts two types of shadows, the umbra and penumbra. Picture the Sun, Earth & Moon aligned from left to right in that order. Picture the Sun shining light onto the Earth and straight out from Earth; a shadow will be cast on the moon because Earth is blocking the Sun's light. This portion you visualized is the umbral shadow. It's a direct, head on shadow where total lunar eclipses occur and the moon disappears because there is no light to reflect. Now because light does not shine in a straight line only, we have to add that to our visualization. Imagine the light from the bottom of the Sun crossing to the top of Earth and extending over the Moon. Do the same with a line from the top of the Sun crossing the bottom of Earth and extending over the moon. This adds an angular area above and below the direct, head on shadow. This angular area outside the boundary of the direct shadow is called the penumbra.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes totally into the umbra portion of the shadow. A partial eclipse occurs when the moon enters the umbra but remains partially in the penumbra. This is when there appears to be a bite taken out of the moon as the portion in the umbra does not receive any light to reflect. A penumbral eclipse is also called an appulse and in this type, the moon does not enter the umbra at all. No bite will be taken out of the moon, but the reflection of sunlight will not be full, because some shadowing is still occurring. See if you can notice a slight dimming of the moon during this penumbral lunar eclipse.

Visibility of the Solar Eclipse - March 29th 5:15 a.m. EST New Moon
A Total Solar Eclipse occurs on March 29th with the New Moon at 5:15 a.m. EST (10:15 GMT). The eclipse begins at 2:36 a.m. EST (7:36 GMT) and ends at 7:45 a.m. EST (12:45 GMT) with the central portion occurring between 8:35 GMT and 11:47 GMT. Mid-eclipse occurs at 10:33 GMT. This eclipse is not visible in the North America or Australia. The eclipse path begins in the western edge of Brazil, across the Atlantic Ocean, northern Africa, the Mediterranean, Turkey, the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, and ends in Mongolia. The duration of totality will be about 4 minutes in Libya, the center of the eclipse, and about 2 minutes at sunrise and set locations.

Partial phases of the eclipse can be seen in all of Europe and all Asia west of Manchuria to Bombay and into all but the southernmost part of Africa.

Total Solar Eclipse Mechanics
During a total solar eclipse, the moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth and completely covers the Sun's disk. There are only a few moments of totality when the Sun is completely covered. In the hours before and after totality, a partial eclipse occurs as the moon moves across the sun's disk.

Saros Series of the March Eclipses
This eclipse season belongs to Saros Series 8 North. In Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark Bernadette Brady writes that "inventiveness and flashes of genius are the hallmark of this Saros Series." [p 319] The series is labeled North because it is the north node of the moon that is experiencing the conjunction with the new moon. Later on in the year, when eclipse season is upon us again, the Saros Series will be 7 South. The new moon will conjunct the south node in September.

The Significance of the Moon's Nodes with regard to Eclipses
Eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth and Moon align with the Moon's Nodes. The alignment with the Lunar Nodes is the factor that enables some New and Full Moons to become Solar and Lunar Eclipses. The Lunar Nodes are the points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Ecliptic Plane, which is determined by the Earth's orbit around the Sun. As a result, when the Moon conjuncts her North or South Node, it means she is on the same plane as Earth. This happens every 14 days. Also occurring every 14 days is the conjunction or opposition of the Moon & Sun. Yet, in order for an eclipse to occur, both things must be happening at the same time: the conjunction or opposition of the Sun & Moon along with the Moon's conjunction to her north or south node. These two things stacking up at 14 day intervals are why we always have a Lunar Eclipse occurring with a Solar Eclipse either before or after.

Sky Maps To Help You Locate the Planets
The following sky maps are available in the OCA Main Public Library.
North Hemisphere:
March 7th at 8:30 pm showing the position of Mars, Moon & Saturn
March 27th at 5:30 a.m. showing Jupiter, Venus, Mercury & Moon
South Hemisphere:
March 10th at 9:00 p.m. DST showing the position of Mars, Moon & Saturn
March 25th at 6:00 a.m. DST showing Jupiter, Moon, Venus & Mercury

Happy star gazing and planet watching! Your OCA family wishes you a happy International Astrology Day on March 20th. The early registration discount is available all month for the summer semester beginning in May.

Julene Packer, Dipl.OCA, CAP
Media Director & Instructor, OCA
ONLINE College of Astrology
www.astrocollege.com
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