THE PLANETS IN MARCH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29146, 5 March 1960, Page 15

THE PLANETS IN MARCH

[By C. S. L. KEAY, of the University of Canterbury] Towards the end of this month the five planets which are easily visible to the naked eye, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, will make a rather straggling reappearance in the morning sky—an encore, so to speak, after last January’s splendid showing. Shortly before sunrise they will be seen spread out along a rough line from Jupiter, high in the northern sky to Saturn, then Mars and finally Venus and Mercury close together low in the eastern sky. When they disperse next month it will be another 20 years before they again come close together. On March 25 Venus and Mercury will be within two degrees (four moon diameters) of one another. Venus will still be very bright, and can act as a guide for locating the elusive Mercury. They will both rise close to two hours before sunrise on March 28th and will remain about the same for several weeks.

The times of rising of the other three planets on March 10, 20 and 31 respectively, are for Jupiter 11.50 p.m. 11.15 p.m. and 10.35 p.m., Saturn 1.2 a.m. 12.26 a.m. and 11.45 p.m., and Mars 3.6 a.m. 3.7 a.m. and 3.8 a.m. March is a better than usual month for eclipses. On Sunday, March 13, there will be a total eclipse of the moon. When the moon rises at 6.48 p.m. it will already be moving from the penumbra (half-shadow of the earth) into the umbra (complete shadow). At 7.40 p.m. the eclipse will become toal and remain total until 9.15 p.m. when the moon will begin to emerge from the shadow of the earth. By 10.18 p.m. it will be completely clear of the umbra, and the eclipse will end at 11.22 p.m. During the total phase of the eclipse the moon may be seen faintly illuminated by a reddish light transmitted to it through the atmosphere of the earth. Shortly before and after totality the earth’s shadow may be seen moving slowly across the face of the moon and one can then fully appreciate the motion of the moon as it moves in its orbit.

A partial eclipse of the sun will occur a fortnight later on Sunday, March 27. It begins in the South Atlantic Ocean at 5.29 p.m. New Zealand time and ends in North Australia at 9.22 p.m., but the sun sets before the eclipse becomes visible in New Zealand. The best view will be obtained from near Perth, in Western Australia. This eclipse is one of a series which began in the middle of the seventeenth century and which will become annular in 2014.