Credit: Peter Garbett of Sharnbrook, UK

MARS

Visibility of Mars in 2008:

MARS can be seen in January for more than half the night in Taurus and then in Gemini from early March. Its eastward elongation gradually decreases until it can only be seen in the evening sky moving from Gemini (passing 5^o S of Pollux on April 28) into Cancer, Leo (passing 0-7^o N of Regulus on July 1), Virgo (passing 2^o N of Spica on September 23) and into Libra where from mid-October until the end of the year it becomes too close to the Sun for observation.

Mars is in conjunction with Saturn on July 11 (at 06^h Mars 0.7^o S of Saturn), with Venus on September 11 (at 21^h Venus 0.3^o N of Mars), and with Mercury on September 12 (at 21^h Mercury 3^o S of Mars) and September 19 (at 05^h Mercury 4^o S of Mars).

DO NOT CONFUSE:

(1) Mars with Saturn for the first three weeks of July when Saturn is the brighter object.

(2) Venus with Mars in the first three weeks of September; Venus is the brighter object.

(3) Mercury with Mars for most of September; Mercury is the brighter object.

Jan. 1

5^h 59.5^m

+26^o 56'

-1.5^m

July 3

10^h 13.0^m

+12^o 15'

+1.6^m

Jan. 17

5^h 39.2^m

+26^o 54'

-1.1^m

July 19

10^h 49.2^m

+8^o 32'

+1.7^m

Feb. 2

5^h 33.6^m

+26^o 39'

-0.6^m

Aug. 4

11^h 25.6^m

+4^o 34'

+1.7^m

Feb. 18

5^h 42.0^m

+26^o 26'

-0.1^m

Aug. 20

12^h 02.3^m

+0^o 25'

+1.7^m

Mar. 5

6^h 00.8^m

+26^o 12'

+0.2^m

Sept. 5

12^h 39.9^m

-3^o 48'

+1.7^m

Mar. 21

6^h 26.8^m

+25^o 46'

+0.6^m

Sept. 21

13^h 18.7^m

-7^o 59'

+1.7^m

Apr. 6

6^h 57.4^m

+25^o 00'

+0.8^m

Oct. 7

13^h 59.1^m

-12^o 01'

+1.6^m

Apr. 22

7^h 31.0^m

+23^o 48'

+1.1^m

Oct. 23

14^h 41.6^m

-15^o 44'

+1.6^m

May 8

8^h 06.2^m

+22^o 05'

+1.3^m

Nov. 8

15^h 26.6^m

-18^o 58'

+1.5^m

May 24

8^h 42.2^m

+19^o 51'

+1.4^m

Nov. 24

16^h 14.0^m

-21^o 34'

+1.4^m

June 1

9^h 00.4^m

+18^o 33'

+1.5^m

Dec. 10

17^h 03.9^m

-23^o 19'

+1.3^m

June 17

9^h 36.7^m

+15^o 36'

+1.6^m

Dec. 26

17^h 55.7^m

-24^o 05'

+1.3^m

Note: All time moments are given in Universal Time (UT) units.
For Kyiv Local_Time=UT+2^h (and Local_Time=UT+3^h for summer time).