March 2008 Monthly Sky Guide

Mercury only recently emerged from the glare of the sun to become visible in the morning sky. It reaches its greatest elongation on the 3rd. Expect to see it rise about 70 minutes ahead of the sun and hang around 12 degrees above the horizon as the sun comes up.

Named after the Roman god of commerce, travel and thievery, Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the eighth largest. Mercury's existence has been known of since before the third century BC. The Greeks gave it two names, Apollo for when it appeared as a morning star and Hermes when it came as an evening star.

Learn more about the planet Mercury and take a solar system tour.

Check out this map for the month of March, or create your own customized map with our Free Sky Maps tool.

Note: This map is for a median time and location and may have slight differences from your location and viewing time. Planets and moons shown on this map will have the highest probability of appearing in different locations.

Use this handy Sky Map Symbols Key to figure out what you should be looking for.

Check out our Astronomical Events Calendar to learn about other happenings in space and on Earth. Here is a sampling of highlights.

• 3: Mercury is at its Greatest Elongation
• 8: Uranus is in Conjunction with the Sun
• 10: Moon at Perigee
• 10 - 14: 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2008), League City, Texas
• 20: Spring Equinox
• 26: Moon at apogee

This month, the constellation Cancer can be seen high in the sky. Let's take a closer look at Cancer.

• The Crab
• Genitive: Cancer
• Abbreviations: Cnc, Canc
• Right Ascension, (h): 9
• Declination, (deg): 20N

It was almost like handing over the reigns, just eleven months apart. Galileo Galilei died at Arcetri, near Florence, on January 8, 1642. More than nine hundred miles away and eleven months later, Hannah Newton gave birth to a premature baby boy on Christmas day near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England.

Read more about the life of Sir Isaac Newton

Check every day to learn what happened "This Day in History."

• 1: 1982 - Venera 13 landed on Venus
• 3: 1972 - Pioneer 10, USA Jupiter Flyby launched
• 11: 1960 - US Probe, Pioneer 5 Solar Monitor launched. Space probe is now in a solar orbit
• 14: 1879 - Albert Einstein born in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany.
• 31: 1727 - Sir Isaac Newton died in London, England.