Space Weather news for March 8, 2003<br />http://www.spaceweather.com<br /><br /><br />MARS: Mars and Earth are converging for an extraordinary close encounter<br />later this year. The approaching red planet is now brighter than a<br />1st-magnitude star--it's gliding through the star fields of Sagittarius in<br />the morning sky.<br /><br /><br />JUPITER: The brightest "star" in the evening sky is Jupiter. This month<br />the giant planet is gliding by the Beehive Cluster of stars in the<br />constellation Cancer. The view through binoculars is splendid!<br /><br /><br />COMET NEAT: After a close encounter with the Sun last month, Comet NEAT<br />is emerging from the Sun's glare into the evening skies of the southern<br />hemisphere. Sky watchers in Argentina, Australia and New Zealand (among<br />other places) say the comet is dim yet visible to the unaided eye with a<br />tail that looks nice through small telescopes and binoculars.<br /><br /><br />AURORAS: Solar wind gusts buffeted Earth's magnetic field last week and<br />sparked auroras at high latitudes. The next series of geomagnetic storms<br />could begin around March 15th.<br /><br /><br />Visit spaceweather.com for images, sky maps and more information.