Highlights (especially for the planets) for the night sky in March 2005

Thursday 3 March 2005

• About 1.5 hours before sunrise look for Antares behind Moon
• Mars and Jupiter span 90 degrees in sky

Saturday 5 March 2005

• Before sunrise look for Mars near Sagittarius (Teapot)
• Look for waning crescent Moon in Teapot

Monday 7 March 2005

• After sunset look for Mercury low on horizon in west near Pegasus

Friday 11 March 2005

• About an hour after sunset look for thin crescent Moon near Mercury in west
• Spring Meeting of the Chesapeake Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers

Tuesday 15 March 2005

• About an hour after sunset look for Moon near Pleiades

Friday 18 March 2005

• An hour after sunset look for Moon in Gemini near Castor, Pollux and Saturn

Sunday 20 March 2005

• After sunset look for Mercury very low on western horizon
• SPRING begins - Vernal Equinox 7:33PM EST

Monday 21 March 2005

• After sunset look for Moon near Leo high in ESE

Friday 25 March 2005

• After sunset look for Moon near Jupiter in Virgo
• Full Moon

Sunday 27 March 2005

• About 3 hours after sunset, look for Moon, Spica and Jupiter in ESE

Thursday 31 March 2005

• Before sunrise look for waning gibbous Moon near Scorpius tail

Good skywatching resources

• Abrams Planetarium Skywatcher's Diary (source of the daily events)
• SkyMap software (used to make the maps)
• The Nearest Stars
• The Brightest Stars
• Skymaps dot com (free monthly star maps)
• Planetarium Software
• About the GMU observatory

John Avellone's provided web sites

• FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial Web Cam at TJHSST Planetarium
• EarthDial Project Beta test webpage