Evening sky in March 2008

Two planets - Mars and Saturn - are well positioned this month. Mars appears well below the conspicuous constellation of Orion. Its reddish colour - the dominant hue of its desert sands - makes it easy to recognize. Although it is still relatively near to the Earth, it would take a telescope with very high magnification even to show its disk. By contrast, Saturn - yellowish and close to the bright star Regulus in Leo - is a wonderful target for a small telescope. Its ring system always impresses first-time viewers. Wonderful close up pictures of the rings have been provided by the Cassini spacecraft (for the latest from both Saturn and Mars go to www.jpl.nasa.gov). A small telescope will also show the moon Titan that orbits Saturn; we now know this moon has dry rivers and lakes of liquid methane, as it is far too cold for water to flow.

Far beyond the foreground planets, the background constellations slowly shift with the seasons; Orion is now progressing towards the western horizon. By May it will disappear into the evening twilight.

The Moon is in the evening sky March 8 to 25.