Image of the dwarf planet Ceres based on observations from NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft. This month, the dwarf planet Ceres is at its brightest, which means you can seek it out with binoculars or a small telescope. Credit: NASA
What are some skywatching highlights in March 2023? After their close approach in the sky on March 1, Venus and Jupiter go your separate ways. Venus climbs higher each evening, while Jupiter exists in the morning sky at the end of the month. And those with binoculars or a small telescope can seek out dwarf planet Ceres, which is at its brightest this month.
Venus and Jupiter separate after their meeting on March 1, while Ceres reaches opposition and is worth hunting down to use binoculars.
- The whole month – Jupiter and Venus are visible in the west after sunset. The two planets began the month super close together on March 1st, but grow further apart each night throughout the month.
- The whole month – Dwarf planet Ceres is in opposition in March, which means it is visible all night and is at its brightest for the year. Find it using binoculars or a small telescope with the constellation Leo as your guide.
- March 7 – Full Moon
- March 21 – New Moon
- March 23 – Look west to find the Moon as a beautifully slender crescent this evening after sunset, hanging just below blazing bright Venus.
- March 24 – After sunset, you’ll find the Moon in the west as a beautifully slender crescent hovering just above radiant Venus.
- March 25 – The crescent moon sits next to the brilliant Pleiades star cluster tonight
The dwarf planet Ceres is shown in these false color renderings, which highlight differences in surface materials. Credit: NASA/JPL
Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system. Giuseppe Piazzi first discovered it in 1801, making it the first asteroid belt member to be found. In 2015 NASA‘s Dawn spacecraft visited Ceres, making it the first dwarf planet to be visited by a spacecraft.
Considered an asteroid for many years, Ceres is considerably more massive and differs from its nearby rocky bodies. As a result, scientists designated it a dwarf planet in 2006. Although it represents 25% of the asteroid belt’s total mass, it is dwarfed by Plutowhich is 14 times more massive.
The Roman goddess of corn and harvest, Ceres, gives her name to this celestial body. The word grain is derived from the same root.
Video transcription
What needs to be done in March? Venus climbs high while Jupiter dives toward the sun, and the tiny planet that shares its namesake with your breakfast cereal.
Venus and Jupiter begin the month very close to each other in the evening sky, following their close conjunction on March 1. However, they quickly go their separate ways. Venus climbs higher in the sky each night for the next few months, while Jupiter dives behind the Sun. The giant planet appears lower in the sky each night throughout the month, making its exit as an evening object. It reappears in May, in the pre-dawn sky, with Saturn.
Jupiter appears lower in the sky each night through the month of March 2023, making its exit as an evening object. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On the 23rd and 24th, for a few hours after sunset, you’ll find the Moon as a beautifully slender crescent hanging just below, and the next night above, blazing bright Venus. Then, on the 25th, the Moon continues upward in the sky, landing right next to the brilliant Pleiades star cluster that night.
With March bringing the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s time to either plant or harvest crops, depending on where you live. So it might be an opportune time to try and spot the planet named after a mythical goddess of agriculture, grain and fertile lands. (Besides being the origin of the word “grain”).
It is the dwarf planet Ceres. This month it is in opposition, meaning it is directly on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. This is when a planet is about its shortest distance from Earth, making this the best time to try to observe it at its brightest.
Although the dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it is still far smaller than our own moon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ceres is the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Yet it’s only about 600 miles wide — far smaller than our own moon. Its dusty surface is peppered with impact craters, with bright salt deposits here and there hinting at the possibility of slushy, briny ice beneath. In fact, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft found that Ceres could be up to a quarter water ice on the inside.
Now Ceres is too faint to see with the naked eye, so to find it in the March sky you need binoculars or a small telescope. Find the Leo constellation in the southeast after about The bright, blue-white star Regulus (Heart of the Lion) should catch your eye first. Then look east about 25 degrees to find Denebola, which represents the lion’s tail. From there, Ceres should be 8 or 9 degrees further east from Denebola. It appears as a faint, star-like point of light – which is why, when Ceres and objects like it were first discovered in the early 19th century, they were called “asteroids”, meaning “star-like”.
Ceres’ position in the sky during March 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Since 2006, Ceres has been classified as a dwarf planet – along with other diminutive worlds in our solar system, including Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. Regardless of where you land on the subject of the “planet vs. dwarf planet” status of worlds like Ceres and Pluto, it’s really important to remember that the way we think about different families of objects in our solar system has evolved over time and likely will continue to evolve as we explore and learn more about them. So we hope you try your hand at spotting Ceres as you explore the skies above your home planet this month.
Here are the moon phases for March.
Moon phases for March 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Stay up to date with all of NASA’s missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and this is this month’s What’s Up.