The first spring month of this year will be very rich in astronomical events. For example, on March 1, the evening sky will be decorated with a spectacular configuration of the new Moon, Mercury, and Venus. And the first two weeks will be quite successful for observing the fastest planet in the Solar System. In some parts of the planet, it will be possible to see as many as 2 eclipses – a total lunar and a partial solar eclipse. In March, Saturn will finally “lose” its rings, although this event will be inaccessible for observations due to its proximity to the Sun. The bright planets continue to delight as well – Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are easy to spot with the naked eye and pleasant to look at through a telescope.
For variable stars fans, the T Coronae Borealis is now available – it can now be seen in the evening sky. This is the same star that we have been waiting for a bright outburst since last year. This year, the chances are increasing, although, of course, there are no guarantees. The favorable observing season will last approximately until mid-autumn.
While in the evening you can still enjoy the Pleiades, the Beehive Cluster and the Orion Nebula, and in the dark sky – the ghostly zodiacal light. The latter is best observed right around the equinox. The vernal equinox itself will also take place in March on the 20th, after which the astronomical spring will begin, lasting until the summer solstice. In the second half of the night, the summer constellations begin to rise, allowing you to see, for example, globular clusters in Hercules, Lyra, and Sagitta. In the morning, those who find themselves under a dark sky will be pleased with a wide swath of the Milky Way.
List of events
👀 🔭 📷 March 1 – Moon conjunction with Mercury, for Ukraine the Moon (3%) will be at 5.5° from Mercury (-1.0m).
👀 🔭 📷 March 5 –The Moon (38%) will pass close to the open cluster of the Pleiades.
👀 🔭 📷 March 8 – Mercury (-0.4m) in the greatest eastern elongation.
👀 🔭 📷 March 9 – Moon (75%) in conjunction with Mars (-0.1m); at 1:54 a.m. GMT (8:54 p.m. EST), the celestial bodies will be only 0.8° apart, low above the horizon. The best time to observe is the night of March 8-9.
👀 🔭 📷 March 14 – Full moon and total lunar eclipse; only the penumbral phase will be visible in Ukraine.
👀 🔭 📷 March 20 – the March equinox, the beginning of the astronomical spring, the exact time of the event is 9:01 a.m. GMT (4:01 a.m. EST).
👀 🔭 📷 March 23 – Saturn’s rings will turn sideways and completely disappear for an Earth observer. We will not see the appearance of “naked” Saturn because of its proximity to the Sun: On March 12, their conjunction will take place.
👀 🔭 📷 March 29 – partial solar eclipse, almost invisible in Ukraine but visible in the western hemisphere.
A detailed overview of the most interesting events
March 1: Moon between Mercury and Venus
The first evening of spring will offer us a spectacular configuration: the new Moon, illuminated by only 3%, will be 5.5° from Mercury (-1.0m) and 10.5° from the bright Venus (-4.6m). You can start “hunting” for a spectacular sky show right at sunset. Check the time according to your geographical location. The lowest of the three objects – Mercury – will be only ~14° above the horizon, so you should choose a site with an open west.
Looking through the telescope, you will be able to see that the phases of the Moon and Venus are very similar, although the latter will be illuminated by 14%. Mercury, on the other hand, will look almost full – we will see 73% of its surface. Skilled observers can also try to find Neptune, which will be 2.25° east of Mercury, but it will be a very difficult object to find, both because of the low brightness of the planet itself and the light color of the western sky.
On the same day, but a little earlier, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands will be able to observe a very rare event – the lunar occulting of Mercury.
March 8: the best time to observe Mercury
Of all the planets visible in the city with the naked eye, Mercury is the most difficult to access. This is because the fastest planet in the Solar System is never high in the sky, so it can only be seen low above the horizon immediately after sunset or just before sunrise, depending on its position in the orbit. The configuration in which Mercury is at its maximum angular distance from the Sun is called the greatest elongation. On March 8, the planet will occupy exactly this position – it will be at its greatest eastern (evening) elongation.
In the case of Mercury, the largest elongations differ significantly from each other. One reason is that the planet moves in a rather elongated orbit, so even at the most favorable time for observations, the angular distance from the Sun can vary between 18° and 28°. The second reason is the orientation of Mercury’s orbital plane and the Earth’s movement in its orbit. The fastest planet never moves far from the ecliptic plane, but the angle between our horizon and the ecliptic changes during sunrise and sunset. In particular, in the evening on the vernal equinox and in the morning on the autumnal equinox, this angle is the largest throughout the year.
On March 8, 2025, one of these factors will play in our favor, and one will play the other way around. On the one hand, on March 4, Mercury will go through perihelion, which will put it only 18.2° from the Sun at its greatest elongation. But on the other hand, this event will take place shortly before the vernal equinox (March 20), so the planet will set only 1 hour and 40 minutes after the Sun.
March 14: total lunar eclipse
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon, Earth, and Sun are in a straight line. By the way, such configurations of 3 or more Solar System bodies are called syzygies. At this moment, our natural satellite is completely in the shadow cast by the planet illuminated by the Sun. If it had no atmosphere, the Moon would simply disappear. The presence of an atmosphere causes the effect known as the “blood Moon”. Because the air scatters the blue part of the spectrum but refracts and transmits the red part, our natural satellite remains visible even when it is completely in the shade, but acquires a characteristic dark crimson color.
The very nature of the phenomenon dictates the conditions for its observation. Regardless of your position on the planet, if the Moon is above the horizon during the eclipse on March 14, you will see the corresponding phase. The total eclipse will last from 6:26 a.m. to 7:31 a.m. GMT (from 1:26 a.m. to 2:31 a.m. EST). North and South America and Greenland will be able to see the full phase.
March 29: partial solar eclipse
Lunar and solar eclipses occur in pairs or triples, always separated by 14-15 days, during which the Moon’s phase has time to change from full to new moon, or vice versa. This month’s eclipses will be no exception: a full lunar eclipse on March 14 will be followed by a partial solar eclipse on March 29. Unlike a lunar eclipse, which is visible to almost half of the world, a solar eclipse will be visible only to those who are under the penumbra cast by the Moon. Unfortunately, Ukraine is out of luck here as well – only in the northwest will Ukrainians be able to capture a tiny part of the Moon’s silhouette against the Sun, with only 4.3% of the star’s disk being covered during the largest available phase. Residents of eastern Canada will be able to see the maximum phase of 94%, while smaller phases will be available to residents of the United States, the rest of Canada, Greenland, Europe, and northwestern Africa.
At the time of this writing, 3 lunar landers were heading to our natural satellite: Blue Ghost, Nova-C Athena and RESILIENCE. On the day of the eclipse, the first two (if they land successfully) will operate on the lunar surface, so we thought it would be interesting to see what these vehicles could potentially see. To find out what the solar eclipse will look like from the Moon, read our article dedicated to this issue.
