From the morning of March 1 until the evening of April 10, we’ll follow the moon as it moves eastward through the zodiac, passing the sun and all the other planets of our solar system—plus five first-magnitude stars, some more than once, as our natural satellite makes more than 1 1/2 trips around its orbit. Many of the moon’s encounters with other bright objects will be quite close and pleasing to the eye.
There are also two eclipses within that period. The first occurs just after midnight on the night of March 24-25, when the moon is almost 180° from the sun and passes through the Earth’s slightly dusky outermost shadow, or penumbra, passing north (above the umbra), missing the dark shadow core. The second eclipse occurs on Monday, April 8, when the moon completely covers the sun in a narrow track across North America; here, we get to see a partial solar eclipse.
On the morning of March 1, an hour before sunup, we find the waning gibbous moon (70%) in the constellation Libra, about 4° from third-magnitude star Zubenelgenubi, which marks the southern claw of the older version of the Scorpion. As the morning sky brightens, look for bright Venus very low in the east-southeast, with faint Mars within 4° to its upper right. Each morning at the same stage of twilight, Venus gets a little lower, and Mars a little higher. Binoculars will help you see Mars. By March 31, they’ll be 18° apart.
On the morning of March 2, the moon is just west of the Scorpion’s head, and on March 3, the moon appears within 3° east of Antares, the red supergiant star marking the heart of the Scorpion. The moon is now at last quarter phase, when it’s half full and 90° west of the sun. You can tell where the sun is located, below the eastern horizon, by noting which side of the moon is illuminated. On March 4, the 40% crescent moon is at its southernmost position for this orbit, near the spout of the Teapot of Sagittarius, the Archer. On the next morning, the moon is still pretty far south, near a second-magnitude star in the Teapot’s handle.
On March 7, Venus appears 17° to the lower left of the 12% crescent. Mars is within 7° to the upper right of Venus and 11° to the left of the moon. On March 8, the 5% old crescent moon is 5° to the lower right of Venus and 6° to the lower left of Mars. Very low in bright twilight, the old moon will be quite a challenge to find.
The new moon occurs on Sunday morning, March 10, as daylight saving time begins. Just a few hours earlier, the moon passes perigee, the closest for the entire year. This makes the moon climb quickly into the evening sky; it’s possible, if you have an unobstructed horizon and very clear skies, to catch a very thin 1% crescent moon just above the western horizon, within 2° to the lower left of Mercury. Start 20-25 minutes after sunset, and look for Mercury 41° to the lower right of Jupiter. The moon will be just more than 17 hours after new, perhaps the youngest moon you’ve ever seen! Binoculars will help.
This young moon marks the start of Ramadan. During evenings this time of year, the zodiacal pathway makes a steep angle with the horizon, so the waxing moon climbs rapidly from one evening to the next. By March 13, the moon is close to Jupiter; on the 14th, it’s near the Pleiades cluster; and on the 15th, it’s widely north of Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, the Bull.
On the 16th, the moon appears close to 1.7-magnitude Elnath, the Bull’s northern horn. On the 17th,, this month’s northernmost moon is near the feet of Gemini, a few degrees farther north than the sun ever gets. Notice how high the moon is in the sky around sunset!
On the 18th, the moon passes unusually close to Pollux, one of the Twin stars of Gemini. On March 19 at 8:06 p.m., spring begins as the sun, crossing northward, passes directly above the equator. On the evening of the 21st, the moon passes north of Regulus, heart of Leo. The full moon occurs on the night of March 24-25, with deepest penumbral lunar eclipse at 12:15 a.m. on the 25th. Can you notice the slight shading on one edge of the moon?
In the early evening on March 24, Mercury reaches its highest position in evening twilight for this entire year. Look 23° to the lower right of Jupiter. The innermost planet of our solar system lingers 21° to Jupiter’s lower right from March 26 through April 2, but fades to invisibility as it transitions into a backlighted crescent.
By March 27, the moon rises well after nightfall, and without the moon’s presence, the sky is quite dark for a short while in the early evening. About 75 minutes after sunset, bright Jupiter is almost down to just 20° above the western horizon. Note second-magnitude Hamal, the brightest star of Aries, just 14° to the lower right of Jupiter.
That evening, using binoculars, look for a fuzzy spot, perhaps of fifth-magnitude, in the same field, 4° to 5° to the lower right of Hamal. It’s Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, in its return to the inner solar system after nearly 71 years. Comet P-B is shifting position by 1.2° each day in relation to the background. On March 30 and 31, the comet will appear within one degree of Hamal, and thereafter, to the star’s upper left, in the same binocular field for perhaps three more evenings.
Shifting your viewing time back to mornings, one hour before sunrise, catch the moon near Spica on March 26 and 27 near Antares on March 30; and passing, in order, Mars, Saturn and Venus on the moon’s way to its rendezvous with the sun—a solar eclipse—on April 8.
As for that eclipse: It will be seen as a total eclipse from within a track crossing Mexico, the United States from Texas to Maine, and eastern Canada. The event will be seen only as a partial solar eclipse from nearly all of the rest of North America, including here.
To avoid serious and possibly permanent harm to eyesight, anyone who wishes to directly view the partial eclipse must use a viewing device that meets safety standards to greatly reduce the sun’s brightness. For descriptions of the standards, the viewing devices, and a list of reliable vendors, visit eclipse.aas.org. We’re putting this information out early, so you’ll have enough time to order your solar glasses or sun viewers designed for use without telescopes or binoculars. Without such an item, you can still observe the eclipse indirectly, by projecting images using a colander or pinholes, or looking at projected images on the ground or the side of a building.
From Reno, first contact of the moon’s disk with the sun’s occurs at 10:19 a.m., as the moon begins to cover the right side of the sun. If the solar disk is imagined as the face of a clock, the moon’s silhouette will first be seen at the 4 o’clock (lower right) position. The coverage increases until maximum eclipse at 11:20 a.m., when the lower 46 percent of the sun’s diameter and 36 percent of the disk area are covered. Next, the fraction of the sun hidden decreases until last contact, at 12:23 p.m., when the moon completely departs from the sun’s disk just below the 9 o’clock (left) edge of the imagined solar clock face.
For details, including important information on how to observe the event safely without risk of damage to eyesight; and, for total eclipse chasers, maps and weather prospects along the path of totality, visit eclipse.aas.org.
For other ways to observe the eclipse, try measuring and recording the temperature every 10-15 minutes—but consider carefully where to place the thermometer(s). Observe the behavior of animals, and listen for sounds of insects, frogs, birds and other wildlife. Will the eclipse be deep enough here to cause noticeable changes? Make similar observations on adjacent days to get a baseline for comparison.
Although there’ll be a total solar eclipse each year from 2026 to 2028, the next ones parts of U.S. will host will occur in March 2033 (in northwest Alaska), August 2044 (North Dakota and Montana at sunset) and August 2045 (California to Florida). The next partial solar eclipses visible here will come on Jan. 29, 2029, and Nov. 14, 2031.
At sunset on the evening of April 8, eclipse day, the moon will still be within 4° of the sun and not visible. At mid-twilight on the next evening, April 9, the moon’s age will be an easy 32 to 33 hours, well-placed 18 degrees from the sun. Look for the beautiful 3 percent crescent that evening, 11° to the lower right of Jupiter. It announces the beginning of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar, and the end of the daytime fasting of Ramadan.
Comet Pons-Brooks appears within 6° to the upper left of moon on April 9. Overnight on April 10-11, the comet passes the descending node of its orbit, crossing south through Earth’s orbital plane. On the evening of the 13th, look for the comet just 3° below Jupiter. On the evening of April 20, Pons-Brooks passes perihelion, 72.6 million miles from sun.
The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar is available by subscription from www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar. Each monthly issue consists of a calendar page illustrating events such as mentioned in this article, and an evening sky map. For $12 per year, subscribers receive quarterly mailings, each containing three monthly issues.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps to produce an occasional issue. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the beauty of the night sky and other wonders of nature. Robert Miller, who provided the evening and morning twilight charts, did graduate work in planetarium science, and later astronomy and computer science at Michigan State University, and remains active in research and public outreach in astronomy.
