When spring begins in the southern hemisphere of Mars, the sun’s heat creates changes in the frozen southern ice cap. Phil Christensen of Arizona State University led a team that monitored Mars’ southern ice cap using the THEMIS camera on NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

Mars Express, one of the orbiting satellites at Mars, has discovered huge water deposits under the surface. Using the radar sounder, known as MARSIS, large expanses of water as ice in layered deposits surrounding the North Polar Cap were found. Scientists believe that an almost pure glacier of water ice about one mile thick underlies the surface beyond the polar cap’s outer margin.

Mercury can be seen at the very end of the month for about a half hour after sunset in the constellation Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). Mercury appears higher in the sky each evening and will be easier to see in March when it’s higher and brighter in the predawn sky. Mercury looks like a small white star.