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The Night Sky for March 2010

Rise/Set Times for March 13, 2010
Sunrise: 06:27
Sunset: 18:18
Darkness Ends: 05:00
Astro Twlight Ends: 05:31
(Daylight)
Astro Twlight Begins: 19:15
Darkness Begins: 19:45
Moonrise: 05:11
Moonset: 16:37
Illumination: 06%
March Moon Phases
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Monthly Sky Chart
This Months Events
Date(s) Event Description
2 Evening: Saturn is 8° left of the rising Moon

2-17 Evening: The zodiacal light is visible from dark sites at mid-northern latitudes. A tall pyramid of pearly light should appear above the fading western twilight starting about 80 minutes after sunset.

12 The Moon is at apogee

13 The Moon passes 4° north of Neptune

14 Daylight Savings Time begins at 2am

16 Dusk: A thin crescent Moon passes 7° to the lower right of Venus

17 Dusk: A thin crescent Moon passes 10° above Venus

20 Spring is here: Vernal equinox occurs at 11:32am MDT

20 Evening: The waxing crescent Moon is very close to the Pleiades

21 Saturn is at opposition

21 Saturn's rings tilt 3.2° to our line of sight

25 The Moon passes 5° south of Mars

29 The Moon passes 8° south of Saturn

30 Mercury is easy to see 30-45 minutes after sunset

Source: Sky & Telescope, Astronomy Magazines
Keeper of Secrets
Object Name Const Type RA Dec Mag Size
&iota Cancri Can DS 8h 46.7m +28° 46' 4.1, 6.0 31"
57 Cancri Can DS 8h 54.2m +30° 35' 6.1, 6.4, 9.2 1.5",5.5"
IC 2233 Lyn Gal 8h 14.0m +45° 45' 12.6 4.7' x 0.5'
Inchworm Lyn Ast 9h 05.9m +38° 16' 4.3 46'
JnEr 1 Lyn PNe 7h 57.9m +53° 25' 12.1 6.8' x 6.0'
NGC 2419 Lyn GC 7h 38.1m +38° 53' 10.4 5.5'
NGC 2424 Lyn Gal 7h 40.7m +39° 14' 12.6 3.8' x 0.5'
NGC 2537 Lyn Gal 8h 13.2m +45° 59' 11.7 1.7' x 1.5'
NGC 2537A Lyn Gal 8h 13.7m +46° 00' 15.4 0.6'
NGC 2683 Lyn Gal 8h 52.7m +33° 25' 9.8 9.3' x 2.1'
NGC 2782 Lyn Gal 9h 14.1m +40° 07' 11.6 3.5' x 2.6'
Sky & Telescope, Deep-Sky Wonders by Sue French, March 2010, p. 61
March Messier Objects
M# Catalog Const Type S.B. Mag Size (min) Common Name
106 NGC 4258 CVn Gal 22.9 9.5 19 x 8
65 NGC 3623 Leo Gal 21.7 10.5 8 x 1.5
66 NGC 3627 Leo Gal 21.6 10.0 8 x 2.5
95 NGC 3351 Leo Gal 22.3 11.0 4.4 x 3.3
96 NGC 3368 Leo Gal 22.3 10.5 6 x 4
105 NGC 3379 Leo Gal 20.8 11.0 2.0
40 WNC 4 UMa Dbl 9.0 9.0 0.8 Winnecke 4
108 NGC 3556 UMa Gal 22.0 11.0 8 x 1
97 NGC 3587 UMa PlN 21.6 12.0 3.4 x 3.3 Owl Nebula
109 NGC 3992 UMa Gal 22.9 11.0 7 x 4
Selected March Double Stars
Object Name Const RA Dec Mag A Mag B Size
Iota Cancri Cnc 08h 46m.7 +28° 46' 4.2 6.6 30"
Zeta Cancri Cnc 08h 12m.2 +17° 39' 5.6 6.0 5.9"
38 Lyncis Lyn 09h 18m.8 +36° 48' 3.9 6.6 2.7"
54 Leonis Leo 10h 55m.6 +24° 45' 4.5 6.3 6.5"
Alpha Leonis Leo 10h 08m.4 +11° 58' 1.4 7.7 177"
Gamma Leonis Leo 10h 20m.0 +19° 51' 2.2 3.5 4.4"
N Hydrae Hyd 11h 32m.3 -29° 16' 5.8 5.9 9.2"
24 Comae Berenices Com 12h 35m.1 +18° 23' 5.2 6.7 20.3"
32 Camelopardalis Cam 12h 49m.2 +83° 25' 5.3 5.8 21.6"
Alpha Canum Venaticorum CVn 12h 56m.0 +38° 19' 2.9 5.5 19.4"
Delta Corvi Crv 12h 29m.9 -16° 31' 3.0 9.2 24.2"
Gamma Virginis Vir 12h 41m.7 -01° 27' 3.5 3.5 3.6"
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