Awesome Astronomy

What to look out, and up, for in March. Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers: Prepare for this year’s Mars opposition as it increases in brightness Jupiter at 21 degrees in the pre-dawn sky Bright Venus, Mercury and the moon in conjunction on 18th March Comet 2016 R2 PANSTARRS in Perseus A lunar conjunction with the Hyades Cluster and occultation of Aldebaran. Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year: Ralph – Messier 81 & 82, Bode’s Galaxy & The Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major Jen - Messier 3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici Paul – The Leo 1 group of Galaxies in the constellation Leo And we finish this sky guide with March’s moon phases.