Tuesday 05-03-2019 - 10:45

This month, say goodbye to Winter and hello to Spring! With the Vernal Equinox and start of British Summer Time, March 2019 marks the start of Astronomical Spring. March has to offer:

• Tuesday 5th: Try and spot the zodiacal light 90 to 180 minutes after sunset. The zodiacal light is a cone of faint light extending upwards from the horizon caused by interplanetary dust scattering light from the Sun. This is the best date due to a lack of the Moon in the sky, but it is visible throughout the month.
• Thursday 7th: Look west up to 40 minutes after sunset for a 1% lit crescent Moon - don't look directly at the Sun to avoid eye damage!
• Wednesday 13th: The clair obscure effects known as the Lunar X and Lunar V are visible on the Moon's terminator - the line between Lunar Day and Night. They are mountain ranges that form these iconic shapes.
• Wednesday 20th: At exactly 9:58pm, the center of the Sun's disc crosses the equator in a moment in time known as the Vernal Equinox. This moment marks the start of Astronomical spring.
• Tuesday 26th: Look south in the morning for Jupiter, the Moon and red supergiant star Antares to form a triangle. 
• Wednesday 27th; Jupiter and the Moon rise together at 1:30am. At 2:30am, Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa, are to be seen disappearing into Jupiter's shadow. 
• Friday 29th: The Moon and Saturn are very close together in the morning. 
• Sunday 31st: Mars is close to the Pleides open cluster in the evening. British Summer Time begins.

Around the start and end of March, these are one of few times in the year when you don't need a strong geomagnetic storm to see the Aurora Borealis. See if you can spot them during the night.