1
00:00:00,533 --> 00:00:03,803
[ ♪ ]

2
00:00:03,836 --> 00:00:05,505
What's Up for March?

3
00:00:05,538 --> 00:00:08,007
Planets and the Zodiacal Light.

4
00:00:09,041 --> 00:00:10,676
Hello and welcome! I'm
Jane Houston Jones from

5
00:00:10,709 --> 00:00:14,247
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California.

6
00:00:15,148 --> 00:00:16,883
Both Venus and Mercury
play the part

7
00:00:16,916 --> 00:00:19,352
of “evening stars” this month.

8
00:00:19,385 --> 00:00:20,586
At the beginning of the month

9
00:00:20,619 --> 00:00:23,689
they appear low on
the western horizon.

10
00:00:23,722 --> 00:00:25,391
The moon itself joins the pair

11
00:00:25,424 --> 00:00:28,628
from March 18th
through the 20th.

12
00:00:28,661 --> 00:00:31,798
The moon skims by the
Pleiades star cluster and

13
00:00:31,831 --> 00:00:34,167
Taurus's bright red star
Aldebaran

14
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,604
on the next few evenings,
March 21 through the 23rd.

15
00:00:38,637 --> 00:00:39,605
[ whoosh ]

16
00:00:39,638 --> 00:00:41,574
Jupiter, king of the planets,

17
00:00:41,607 --> 00:00:43,976
rises just before
midnight this month,

18
00:00:44,009 --> 00:00:46,145
and earlier by month end.

19
00:00:46,178 --> 00:00:49,715
Even through the smallest
telescope or average binoculars,

20
00:00:49,748 --> 00:00:52,351
you should see the
4 Galilean moons,

21
00:00:52,384 --> 00:00:56,055
Europa, Io, Callisto
and Ganymede.

22
00:00:56,088 --> 00:00:59,525
The March morning sky
offers dazzling views

23
00:00:59,558 --> 00:01:02,428
of Mars and Saturn
all month long.

24
00:01:02,461 --> 00:01:04,764
Through a telescope, you
can almost make out

25
00:01:04,797 --> 00:01:06,966
some of the surface
features on Mars.

26
00:01:06,999 --> 00:01:09,869
Look a little farther
into Mars' future

27
00:01:09,902 --> 00:01:12,672
and circle May 5th
with a red marker.

28
00:01:12,705 --> 00:01:15,341
When NASA's InSight
spacecraft launches for its

29
00:01:15,374 --> 00:01:17,577
6 month journey to
the red planet,

30
00:01:17,610 --> 00:01:20,780
Mars will be easily
visible to your unaided eye.

31
00:01:21,814 --> 00:01:25,084
Keep watching Mars as it
travels closer to Earth.

32
00:01:25,117 --> 00:01:27,386
It will be closest in late July,

33
00:01:27,419 --> 00:01:30,857
when the red planet will appear
larger in apparent diameter

34
00:01:30,890 --> 00:01:33,459
than it has since 2003!

35
00:01:33,492 --> 00:01:34,560
[ whoosh ]

36
00:01:34,593 --> 00:01:37,430
You are in for a real treat
if you can get away to

37
00:01:37,463 --> 00:01:41,000
a dark sky location on a
moonless night this month --

38
00:01:41,033 --> 00:01:44,637
the Zodiacal Light and
the Milky Way intersect!

39
00:01:44,670 --> 00:01:48,040
The Zodiacal light is a
faint triangular glow

40
00:01:48,073 --> 00:01:52,145
seen from a dark sky just
after sunset in the spring

41
00:01:52,178 --> 00:01:55,114
or just before sunrise
in the fall.

42
00:01:55,147 --> 00:01:56,816
The more familiar Milky Way

43
00:01:56,849 --> 00:01:59,719
is one of the spiral arms
of our galaxy.

44
00:01:59,752 --> 00:02:02,922
What we're seeing is sunlight
reflecting off dust grains

45
00:02:02,955 --> 00:02:06,259
that circle the Sun in
the inner solar system.

46
00:02:06,292 --> 00:02:09,996
These dust grains journey across
our sky in the ecliptic,

47
00:02:10,029 --> 00:02:13,499
the same plane as the
moon and the planets.

48
00:02:14,533 --> 00:02:16,135
You can find out about
all of NASA's missions

49
00:02:16,168 --> 00:02:20,406
including Insight at:
www.nasa.gov

50
00:02:21,507 --> 00:02:23,309
That's all for this month.
I'm Jane Houston Jones.

51
00:02:24,043 --> 00:02:25,144
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory