March 2025 says goodbye to Saturn, welcomes a total lunar eclipse, and continues hanging out with the rest of the planets
Hi everybody, I’m Rob, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare.
We’ll start by talking about this month’s big events, then highlight the naked eye planets, and finish up with the lunar phases, so you can plan ahead better than me.
BIG EVENTS
14th - Total Lunar Eclipse
1:09am EST – Partial Eclipse Begins – Just look South to find the Full Moon, and watch as the Earth’s shadow appears to nibble on the Moon from left to right. This phase will last about an hour. (You might hear that the penumbral portion of the eclipse starts before this. While true, it is essentially undetectable with the naked eye.)
2:26am EST – Totality Begins – Now the umbra of the Earth’s shadow is completely engulfing the Moon, and only the light from all the sunrises and sunsets on Earth are illuminating our orbital partner’s surface, making it appear anywhere from dark yellow to orange to red to brown. This phase will last a little over an hour, with maximum eclipse right before 3am.
3:32am EST – Totality ends, Partiality begins again – now the shadow leaves the Moon, starting to expose its surface from the right to left.
4:48am EST – Partial Eclipse Ends
Other things to look for
As the Moon gets darker, more and more stars will be visible
The Moon is right between Leo and Virgo - Virgo is usually tough to find, so take advantage of the darkened Moon.
20th – Spring Equinox - Astronomically the first day of Spring, even though meteorologically Spring starts in the beginning of March. Here’s some more info.
29th - Partial Solar Eclipse - Technically, this is happening, but it’ll be very hard to see even if you are in the NE US. Northern Europe has the best views.
Naked-eye PLANETS
Sunset
Venus (first 2 weeks) - Starting at sunset about 30° above the horizon, Venus dominates the sunset sky, but takes a nosedive over the next two weeks. Look W just after sunset and find the brightest non-blinking object in that direction. Using a telescope, you’ll see it in its crescent phase. Keep track every night to watch it sink lower and lower before it passes between the Sun and Earth.
Mercury (first 2 weeks) - If you get real lucky and get clear skies and have a clear view of the W horizon, you might just catch Mercury emerging just over 10° above the horizon, but only for the first two weeks of March. Mercury will be under Venus, until Venus passes to the right of it on the 13th.
Jupiter - High in the SW after sunset, above Taurus’ head.
Mars - High in the S after sunset, right in the middle of Gemini and moving back up toward Gemini’s heads. Look for the bright red dot making a triangle with Pollux and Castor, Gemini’s 2 brightest stars. Or find Jupiter and look about 35˚ to the left.
Middle of the night
Jupiter - Above Taurus’ head, super bright. Starts high in the SW and sets around 1am.
Mars - To the left of Jupiter by about 35°, hanging around Gemini’s twin stars Pollux and Castor. Moves West through the night and sets around 4am
Morning
Maybe Venus (last week) – If you’re up before sunrise the last week, take a chance and try to find Venus by looking directly East over a very low and clear horizon. That very bright dot will be Venus, which will be a morning planet pretty much for the rest of 2025.
Lunar Events
LUNAR CYCLE
Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)
First Quarter Moon – 6th (Visible until midnight)
Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)
Full Moon – 14th (Visible all night)
Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)
Last Quarter Moon – 22nd (Visible midnight into the morning)
Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)
New Moon – 29th (darkest skies)
LUNAR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
The Moon will be traveling across the sky as normal, passing by some planets at particular times.
1st - 2nd - Mercury & Venus - Get out right after sunset to catch a VERY thin crescent Moon in between Mercury and Venus. First, find Venus, the brightest object in the West. On the 1st, the Moon will be 6˚ down and to the left, and hard to see. Mercury will be about 8˚ below the Moon. On the 2nd, the Moon will move to be about 12˚ above and to the left of Venus.
5th - 6th - Find the Waxing Crescent Moon right nearby Jupiter. To the right of Jupiter on the 5th, to the left and up on the 6th.
8th - The Moon will start out the night just 2˚ from Mars, moving further away throughout the night, setting around 5am.
26th - Get out between 6:30am and 6:50am and see if you can see Venus coming out on the other side of the Sun. Look East. Venus will be super bright, but only a few degrees above the horizon. The Moon will be similarly high, but about 45˚ to the right in the ESE.
And that’s the sky for this month. If you find this advance notice of the night sky helpful, please support this work by finding Last Minute Astronomer on Patreon, and don’t forget to follow Last Minute Astronomer on Facebook and Instagram. Till next month, I’m the Last Minute Astronomer wishing you fruitful plans and clear skies.
All pictures simulated using Starry Night Pro Plus 8.
Comments