Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
On Thursday, March 20 at 4:01 a.m. EDT or 1:01 a.m. PDT and 09:01 GMT, the sun will cross the celestial equator traveling north, marking the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of northern spring. Days and nights will be of equal length on that day, and the sun will rise due […]
The moon will reach its third quarter phase on Saturday, March 22 at 6:29 a.m. EST, 3:29 a.m. PST or 11:29 GMT. Third quarter moons rise around midnight in your local time zone, and then remain visible in the morning daytime sky. At third, or last, quarter the moon is 50%-illuminated, on its western side, […]
On Sunday, March 23, Earth’s orbit will carry us from the north side to the south side of the plane defined by Saturn’s rings, an event that happens every fourteen to seventeen Earth years. On that date, the planet’s very thin rings will effectively vanish for a number of hours, leaving the planet as a […]
The March new moon will occur on Saturday, March 29 at 6:58 a.m. EDT, 3:58 a.m. PDT, and 10:58 GMT. This new moon will also produce a very deep partial solar eclipse visible across the northeastern USA and Canada, Greenland, most of Europe, northwestern Africa, and northern Russia. After the moon’s penumbral shadow first contacts […]
In the western sky after sunset on Monday, March 31, the very slender crescent of the young moon will resemble the Cheshire Cat’s smile when it shines below bright Jupiter and the Pleiades Star Cluster – setting up a wonderful widefield photo opportunity. Uranus will be positioned between them, but not easily seen without a […]