Space and Astronomy

Phases Of The Moon

New Moon

First Quarter

Full Moon

Last Quarter

Monday March 15, 2:01 p.m.

Tuesday March 23, 4:00 a.m.

Monday march 29, 7:25 p.m.

Sunday March 7, 7:42 a.m.

The Planets and Special Events

On Saturday March 20 at 10:32 a.m. Spring Begins in the Northern Hemisphere. This event is called the Vernal Equinox and at this moment, the Sun rises due East and sets due West and the days and nights are equal in length. At this same moment, Autumn begins in the Southern Hemisphere.

begins Sunday Morning, March 14th at 2:00 a.m. Remeber to set your clocks ahead one hour. Standard Time will return on November 7th. Both Arizona and Hawaii do not observe Daylight Savings Time.

Venus Mag -3.7) returns to the evening sky and can be seen close to the Western horizon at sunset.

Jupiter is hidden in the Sun's glare this month and will appear again in the morning during April.

Mars (Mag -0.2) can be seen high in the Southern sky evening.

Saturn (Mag +0.5) rises in the Eastern sky just after just after sunset and can be seen 58° above the horizon around 1:00 a.m.

Reprinted with permission, the information above is made available in the Griffith Observer , a monthly publication by the Griffith Observatory. For complete information on the Planets and other items related to Astronomy, please visit the Griffith Observatory Web Site.

The Griffith Observatory provides free public viewing through it's Triple-Beam Coelostat-Fed Solar Telescope, 12-inch Zeiss Refractor and 11-inch Computer Controlled Telescopes. For more information on observing through these Telescopes or visiting the Griffith Observatory visit the Griffith Observatory Web Site.

Fun Facts

When you hear somebody talk about a celestial object being 30° (or 30 degrees) above the horizon, how in the world do you know how far up that is ? Well, hold your hand out at arms length with your thumb and fingers together, the palm of your hand facing you with the sky behind it. The distance from the edge of the little finger on the bottom of your palm to the edge of your thumb on the top is about 10° (10 degrees). Two palm widths is 20°, three is 30° and so on.

The theory that our Sun is the center of the universe and our planets revolve around it was first documented by Nicolas Copernicus. The interesting thing is that Copernicus was a Catholic Priest and Philosopher, not an Astronomer. But he believed that God would have made the movements of the planets more simple than the previously documented theory (which was very complex). As we know today, Corpernicus was right !

Space and Astronomy Related Links

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