Monthly Night Sky information provided by Chris Vaughan (@Astrogeoguy) at Starry Night Education (@StarryNightEdu).
After sunset on the evenings surrounding Saturday, March 8, Mercury (orbit shown in red) stretch to its widest separation of 18.1 degrees east of the sun, and also its maximum visibility for its current apparition. With Mercury positioned in the western sky above the nearly upright evening ecliptic (green line), this appearance of the planet […]
Once the sky darkens on Saturday evening, March 8, bright reddish Mars and Gemini’s two brightest stars Castor and Pollux will appear around the bright gibbous moon. Mars and the moon will be close enough together to share the view in a backyard telescope or binoculars (orange circle). The “twin” stars will shine off to […]
For jurisdictions that adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST), clocks should be set forward by one hour at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 9. For stargazers, the time change, and the fact that sunsets occur 1 minute later each day near the March equinox, will mean that dark-sky observing cannot commence until much later […]
Once the sky begins to darken on Tuesday, March 11, the bright, white star Regulus, which marks the heart of Leo, the Lion will appear several finger widths below the bright, waxing gibbous moon – close enough for them to share the view in binoculars (orange circle). Early risers on Wednesday morning can look above […]
In the western sky after sunset on the evenings surrounding Wednesday, March 12, the inner planets Mercury and Venus will dance with one another. Both planets will be swinging sunward in their orbits and dropping lower night over night. Mercury and much brighter Venus to its right will be cozy enough to share the view […]