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| Phases of the Moon |
All events in Universal Time. |
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| The Sun |
Date |
Sunrise |
Sunset |
|
1st |
04:32 |
19:40 |
|
15th |
04:05 |
20:05 |
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31st |
03:44 |
20:28 |
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(Data referred to the centre of the British Isles: 54° N, 2.5° W.) |
You may find details of the current month's planetary peregrinations in the March issue
of Astronomy Now magazine. Click here to find out more.
Alternatively, to keep abreast of what's happening in the skies over the British Isles,
including timings of bright lunar occultations, please consult our Night Sky & Alerts
pages as well as the interactive solar system data table below.
This is an excellent time to see phenomena of Jupiter's moons
(see our Night Sky page). Even a small telescope will permit you
to observe their shadows creeping across the face of their parent planet. You will also see
them slip into Jupiter's shadow, or reappear from occultation at the opposite limb of the planet.
This is a fascinating activity, and our pop-up interactive Jupiter program
will enable you to identify Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, get
predictions of their shadow transits, and see how they move. You can also get timings of when
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible with this versatile routine.
Interactive solar system data table
For those requiring accurate observational data for the major bodies of the solar
system, we present a fully-interactive ephemeris that will appear in a pop-up
window. With this very handy tool you will be able to plan your observing sessions.
Not only will you be able to see at a glance when and where the Sun, Moon and
planets will be at any given instant, but deep-sky enthusiasts will be able to
see when skies will be totally dark (when the Sun's altitude is below -18°)
or devoid of moonlight.
Click
the logo to launch Astronomy Now's interactive solar system ephemeris in a separate
window.  |
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The table opens with information computed for the current date and Universal Time
(essentially the same as Greenwich Mean Time). This is based on your computer's
internal clock and time-zone localisation, so please make sure these settings
are applied correctly on your machine. The localisation is initially set to the
centre of the British Isles.
Changing the date and time entries and pressing the "Calc" button will recompute
the table for the given instant. If you wish to return to the present date and
time, press the "Reset" button. By using the other time buttons you may step forward
or backwards by weekly, daily, hourly, or ten minute increments.
Since the program performs all its calculations in Universal Time, remember to
add one hour to events generated by the table to obtain the British Summer
Time equivalent. Similarly, subtract an hour from local time before entering
it in the box when BST is active. Pressing "Reset" will always recompute the table
to the current value of UT.
The table can produce data for other locations in and around the British Isles,
too. Use the pull-down menus to select a location nearest you (a gazetteer or
large-scale Ordnance Survey map will give you latitude and longitude information),
then press the "Calc" button. The program will remember your chosen location for
the session.
With a little experimentation it is possible to quickly determine the rising and
setting times of any given object. Refraction is taken into consideration, so
the Sun and Moon rise or set when their centres are at an altitude of -0.3°;
other objects in the table rise or set when their altitudes are zero.
As seen from the British Isles, the Sun, Moon and planets rise with azimuths (compass
bearings relative to true north) between approximately northeast and southeast,
and set with azimuths between southwest and northwest.
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2008 Yearbook
 This 132-page special edition features the ultimate observing guide for 2008, a review of all the biggest news stories, in depth articles covering all aspects of astronomy including astrophotography, the future of the Sun and space missions for 2008, and much, much more.
 U.K. STORE
E.U. STORE
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Take the tour!
 A 100-page special edition from the creators of Astronomy Now magazine, The Grand Tour of the Universe takes readers from one end of the Universe to the other and, in doing so, asks the question "just how big is the Universe?"
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Infinity Rising
 This special publication features the photography of British astro-imager Nik Szymanek and covers a range of photographic methods from basic to advanced. Beautiful pictures of the night sky can be obtained with a simple camera and tripod before tackling more difficult projects, such as guided astrophotography through the telescope and CCD imaging.
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Starry Night
 Explore the Universe with these new versions of the award-winning Starry Night Software. Available now from the Astronomy Now Store.
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Exploring Mars
 Astronomy Now is pleased to announce the publication of Exploring Mars. The very best images of Mars taken by orbiting spacecraft and NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers fill up the 98 glossy pages of this special edition!
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Mars rover poster
 This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
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