As March opens, the star Rigel, in Orion’s foot, reaches its high point directly south around evening mid-twilight, and the Mother-goat star Capella passes its high point, north of overhead, only three minutes later.
Orion’s familiar pattern is, “Three in a row (the belt), two above, two below.” Rigel is the bright blue-white star to the lower right of Orion’s belt. Betelgeuse is the reddish star to the belt’s upper left. Around the end of twilight on March 1, all seven bright stars of Orion’s pattern, ending with Betelgeuse, have passed their high points in the south. Some 50 minutes after Betelgeuse, the brightest nighttime star, Sirius, reaches its high point. Canopus, the second-brightest star, attains its highest position just 3°-4° above the southern horizon 22 minutes earlier and 36° lower than Sirius’ crossing.
Jupiter on March 1 transits (reaches its high point) just 20 minutes after Sirius does, but nearly 40° higher. Castor, Procyon and Pollux all transit in quick succession between 50 and 61 minutes after Sirius.
As a consequence of the Earth’s revolution around the sun, all these stars’ crossings will occur earlier, by nearly four minutes per day, and by month’s end, they’ll all occur either during twilight, or even in daylight, before sunset—so look soon!
At dusk on March 1, the star Regulus will appear 5 degrees to the lower left of the 98 percent moon, which closes in on the star all night, falling just short as they set in the brightening dawn on March 2. Overnight on Monday to Tuesday, March 2-3, the moon will be full, with a special event in the darkness before dawn on March 3: a total lunar eclipse!
There will be two major lunar eclipses visible in our area in 2026. The first will be total, during the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 3. The other will be a very deep partial eclipse (about 93%) on Aug. 27. If the sky is clear, both should be beautiful, colorful events!
When most or all of the moon is immersed within Earth’s shadow, the shaded portion is not completely dark, but typically takes on a coppery reddish or rusty color, from sunlight which has passed through Earth’s atmosphere and been refracted, or bent, into the shadow.
For the predawn eclipse on Tuesday, March 3, plan to nap on Monday evening and set an alarm to get you up and out by 1:50 a.m. Tuesday. That’s the time of the start of partial eclipse, when the moon first starts to enter the umbra, or dark, circular central core of Earth’s shadow.
Total eclipse will last for nearly one hour, from 3:04 until 4:03 a.m. Within that hour, at mid-totality or greatest eclipse at 3:34 a.m., the moon will appear deepest within the shadow, and likely darkest.
The partial eclipse will conclude at 5:17 a.m., when the moon completely exits the umbra.
If you don’t wish to follow the entire three hours and 27 minutes of the moon’s encounter with Earth’s dark shadow, then the most impressive 20-minute intervals would be centered on the beginning and end of totality—that is, from 2:54 until 3:14 a.m., and from 3:53 until 4:13 a.m. You may also want to check at 3:34 a.m., when the moon is deepest within the shadow.
Wishing you clear skies!
At mid-eclipse, note the star Regulus, heart of Leo, the Lion, in the west, 12° to the lower right of the totally eclipsed moon. Other bright zodiacal stars are blue-white Spica, in the south-southwest, and reddish Antares, in the south-southeast. It’s no coincidence that Regulus, the moon, Spica and Antares appear in a nearly straight line across the sky, as all are within a few degrees of Earth’s orbit plane. Other bright stars visible at mid-eclipse include golden Arcturus, high above Spica, and the summer triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair, in the northeast to east. Can you notice the Milky Way passing through the summer triangle? Half an hour later, as totality ends at 4:03 a.m., with the triangle higher and the sky still dark, the Milky Way will be easier to see.
Follow the waning moon at dawn through March 16. Watch for close encounters of a gibbous moon with stars: Spica on March 6, and Antares on March 10. This month’s southernmost moon occurs on the morning of March 11, when it’s at last quarter phase, half full and 90° west of the sun. After the total eclipse on March 3, the next good chances to see the Milky Way begin around March 14 or 15, when the moon will be a crescent, well east of the Teapot of Sagittarius, and continue through March 27 or 28. Best time to look during those two weeks is just before the start of morning twilight.
Mercury passes inferior conjunction, nearly between the Earth and the sun, on March 7, and moves into the morning sky. Not until two weeks later does Mercury attain first magnitude, but with the zodiacal belt of constellations making its minimum angle with the horizon in morning twilight at this time of year, Mercury in the closing days of March attains a maximum altitude of only 5° as seen from the Coachella Valley for this apparition, at mid-twilight while the sun is 9° down. Despite Mercury’s reaching its maximum possible angle of nearly 28° from the sun on April 3, this is a very poor apparition. Use binoculars to try to pick it up very low in east to east-southeast in bright twilight.
Evening planets: Venus (magnitude -3.9) increases its elongation east of sun from 13° to 20° in March, becoming more noticeable. The steep angle of ecliptic to horizon at dusk at this time of year is an advantage; Venus sets about an hour after sunset on March 1, and 1.6 hours after on March 31. Use binoculars to watch Venus’ close encounter with departing first-magnitude Saturn on March 7 and 8. Jupiter, of magnitude -2.4 to -2.2 in central Gemini, high in southern sky at nightfall, ends retrograde March 10, when it’s 10.6° from Pollux and 11.2° from Castor, not going quite far enough west to form an isosceles triangle. Watch Venus draw closer to Jupiter until June 9. They’re 111° apart on March 1, and 74° on March 31.
Follow the moon at dusk from March 19-April 1. Look for the young crescent moon with earthshine—“the old moon in the new moon’s arms”—within 6° to the lower right of Venus on March 19, and within 10° to the upper right of Venus on the next evening. Between those evenings, at 7:46 a.m. on the 20th, spring begins in Earth’s northern hemisphere as the sun crosses north of the equator.
The waxing crescent moon climbs from 4° below the Pleiades star cluster at dusk on the 22nd to 10° above it on the 23rd. Also on the 23rd, Aldebaran, eye of Taurus and follower of the Pleiades, will appear about 10° south (to the left) of the moon. Aim your binoculars at Aldebaran, and you’ll see the Hyades cluster in the same field. The “V” formed by Aldebaran and the Hyades makes up the head of the Bull.
Binoculars also provide wonderful views of the Pleiades cluster. Bonus: Look for a pair of stars 21’ (arcminutes), or 0.35° apart, within 5° south of the Pleiades. They are 13 and 14 Tauri, magnitude 5.7 and 6.1. Uranus, of magnitude 5.7, is a close match in brightness to 13 Tauri. From March 17-26, Uranus passes closely south of the two stars: 12’ from 13 Tauri on March 17; forming an isosceles triangle with them, 14’ from each, on March 20; and 5’ from 14 Tauri on March 26.
On the evenings of March 24 and 25, the moon is in the far northern part of the zodiac and near first quarter phase, close to half full and 90 degrees east of the sun, near the sun’s position against the stars three months from now, around the date of the summer solstice, in June. On March 24 at dusk, the fat crescent moon appears in eastern Taurus, near 1.7-magnitude Elnath, tip of the Bull’s northern horn. On the next evening, the slightly gibbous moon is in western Gemini.
On March 25 and 26, from one evening to the next, the waxing gibbous moon leapfrogs past bright Jupiter, and lands 3° south of Pollux, brighter of the “Twin” stars of Gemini.
On March 27 at nightfall, the moon is in Cancer, closely north of the Beehive, but the lunar phase of 75 percent will make the cluster’s stars difficult to observe; use binoculars or a telescope.
On March 28 at dusk, Regulus appears 9° to the lower left of the moon. On the next evening, the star appears 4°-5° to the moon’s upper right.
The next full moon will occur on the evening of April 1, with the star Spica rising 10° to its lower left.
The Astronomical Society of the Desert will host a star party on Saturday, March 14, at Sawmill Trailhead, a site in the Santa Rosa Mountains at an elevation of 4,000 feet; and on Saturday, March 21, at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center. For more information, including maps and directions to the two observing sites, visit astrorx.org. Also check that website for a links to “Lecture Meeting Dates” and to “Impromptu Star Parties” which I am planning to offer in the west valley, mostly in Palm Springs, in March and April.
The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar includes illustrations of many of the events described in this column, as well as an evening constellation chart. To subscribe for $12 per year or to view a sample, visit www.abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps 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.
