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March 19: Mercury stands still
The Moon passes 5° north of Venus at 9 A.M. EDT, although neither is visible then. Instead, you can view them together in the evening sky.
Some 40 minutes after sunset, the first bright stars are likely starting to pop into view as twilight falls. Venus outshines them all at magnitude –3.9; the bright planet stands just under 10° above the western horizon at this time, located in southeastern Pisces.
The Moon may be more challenging — it’s a thin, two-day-old sliver just 5 percent lit, now nearly 9° above Venus. Its eastern limb is just starting to experience sunrise, while the rest of the nearside remains in darkness. However, you might see some of the darkened surface thanks to sunlight bouncing off Earth, a phenomenon called earthshine.
If you take some time to view Venus through a telescope, you’ll see the bright planet’s disk is nearly fully lit (95 percent) and stretches 10” across. The best time to view it is in early twilight while the background sky is still bright. Venus sets around 8:40 P.M. local daylight time, so you should have plenty of time to view it.
The vernal equinox occurs at 10:46 A.M. EDT, ushering spring into the Northern Hemisphere.
Sunrise: 7:03 A.M.
Sunset: 7:12 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:38 A.M.
Moonset: 9:31 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (6%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
