Star Points for March, 2004; by Curtis Roelle
The Classic Planets Return


As twilight ends the two brightest naked eye planets will dominate
the eastern and western horizons.  Brilliant Venus soars high over
the western horizon in the constellation Aries the Ram.  Jupiter is
low in the east in Leo.  Tonight it will be above the rising moon. 
In between them are two fainter outer planets.

You can find the planet Mars higher in the west about halfway
between Venus and Aldebaron, the brightest star in the
constellation Taurus the Bull.  Mars is continuing to grow fainter
as it recedes farther from us.  It has lost the splendor and
brilliance it had when it's ruddiness dominated the night sky in
the Summer and Fall last year.  Mars appears to be steadily
shrinking away.  

In the second half of the month look for Mars near the Pleiades
star cluster which is also known as "the seven sisters."  The
people of Japan know this naked eye star cluster as Subaru.

Look for the ringed world Saturn near the club in Orion the
Hunter's up-stretched arm.  It is surrounded by bright winter stars
including Betelgeuse, Aldebaron, Castor & Pollux, Capella, and
Sirius.  If you are uncertain which "star" is Saturn, then look at
the brightest one by one with a telescope until you find one with
rings.  

A fifth bright naked eye planet will be making an appearance at
month's end.  Mercury will be best place in the western evening sky
on March 29.

These five planets are the classic planets of antiquity.  Planets
that have been known since man first appeared on the earth.  Their
discoverers will never be known.  The other major planets on the
other hand, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, were each discovered
relatively recently during the past 223 years.

Weather permitting, a good opportunity to see all five planets will
be on Saturday night, March 27.  On that night members of the
Westminster Astronomical Society, Inc. will have telescopes for
viewing set up at the Soldier's Delight Natural Environmental Area
in Baltimore County. The address is 5100 Deer Park Road in Owings
Mills, telephone 410-922-3044.    

Plan to arrive early if you want to see elusive Mercury.  If the
viewing area is free of obstructions and the horizon is free of
clouds, Mercury might be visible as early as 06:30 p.m.  Mercury
should remain well placed for an hour or so but will slip below the
horizon just past 08:00 p.m. that evening.

In other news, this column has been monitoring the development of
new plans for manned travel to the moon and beyond.  The Chinese
government and the Bush administration have both announced
initiatives to ramp up efforts to send unmanned and manned missions
to the moon.  

In the last week of February the government of India threw its hat
into the ring.  The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said
it could send an unmanned mission to the moon within the next five
years according to the web site space.com.