Sky & Telescope - March 2025 - 47

+30°
+40°
+20°
+10°
0°
-10°
-20°
-30°
-40°
22h
20h
CYGNUS
HERCULES
PEGASUS
AQUILA
OPHIUCHUS
Saturn
AQUARIUS
LIBRA
CAPRICORNUS
19
Mar 25
Fomalhaut
10 am
SAGITTARIUS
8 am
22
Antares
SCORPIUS
6 am
4 am
2 am
LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT
Midnight
10 pm
8 pm
CANIS
MAJOR
6 pm
4 pm
2 pm
Spica
CORVUS
HYDRA
Sirius
ERIDANUS
Regulus
VIRGO
Mar
13-14
18h
Vega
16h
14h
BOÖTES
9
Arcturus
LEO
Uranus
CANCER
Betelgeuse
Procyon
ORION
Rigel
EQUATOR
TAURUS
Neptune
Mercury
-20°
-10°
-30°
-40°
pThe Sun and planets are positioned for mid-March; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening
dates in the Americas when it's waxing (right side illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it's waning (left side illuminated). " Local time of transit "
tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian - that is, when they appear due south and at their highest - at mid-month. Transits
occur an hour later on the 1st and an hour earlier at month's end.
fully symmetrical hexagon by connecting
the Moon-Mars pair with Procyon
(in Canis Minor), then down to Sirius
(Canis Major), over to Rigel (Orion), up
to Jupiter, on to Capella (Auriga), and
back to the Moon and Mars.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
Since the 8th, the Moon has traveled
eastward from Gemini, through
Cancer, into Leo. There it has its closest
encounter with a bright star this month
when it stands about 1° upper right
of Regulus in the predawn hours. Of
all the 1st-magnitude stars strung out
along the ecliptic - the path the Sun,
Moon, and planets tread across the
celestial sphere - Regulus is the faintest.
Shining at magnitude 1.4, it's a half
magnitude fainter than the brightest
Dusk, March 7 - 9
1 hour after sunset
10°
Moon
Mar 7
ecliptic star, Aldebaran, in Taurus. The
Moon is nearly full (96% illuminated)
when it's closest to the star, at around
5:30 a.m. EDT. Here again, binoculars
are a big help.
FRIDAY, MARCH 14
This morning all of the U.S., Canada,
Central America, and much of South
America get to enjoy the first total
eclipse of the Moon since 2022. Totality
begins at 2:26 a.m. EDT and lasts a
bit more than an hour, concluding at
3:32 a.m. The event is described in full
starting on page 48.
SATURDAY, MARCH 22
If you get up before dawn today, cast
your gaze to the south-southeast to see
something quite unusual: the last-quarDawn,
March 20 - 21
1 hour before sunrise
Antares
Moon
Mar 21
Castor
Pollux
Moon
Mar 8
Mars
GEMINI
Moon
Mar 9
Looking Southeast,
very high up
Looking South
LUPUS
SCORPIUS
Moon
Mar 20
ter Moon sitting just above the spout of
the Sagittarius Teapot. With a declination
of -29½°, this is very nearly as far
south as the Moon can get. It's all down
to something called the " major lunar
standstill. " We'll discuss this phenomenon
in more detail next month, but
for now, suffice it to say that extreme
southern and northern positions for
the Moon are the result of a couple of
factors working together: the Moon's
5° orbital inclination and its arrival at
the southern (or northern) extreme of
the ecliptic. In the meantime, enjoy this
unusual sight.
THURSDAY, MARCH 27
This morning you have the rare opportunity
to catch a second conjunction
involving the Moon and Venus. While
two such meetings in a month are not
especially uncommon, it is unusual to
have one at dusk (see March 1, on the
facing page) and another at dawn. That
said, this morning's conjunction isn't
especially close - the 6%-illuminated
waning lunar crescent sits 22° right of
the Morning (formerly, Evening) Star.
Venus itself gleams gamely at magnitude
-4.1. With earthshine adorning
the lunar disk, the pairing is undeniably
a pretty sight, but in truth it's the novel
circumstance that makes this conjunction
worth rising early to see.
¢ Given a choice, Consulting Editor
GARY SERONIK will always opt for an
evening conjunction over one that takes
place at dawn.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * MARCH 2025
47
12h
RIGHT ASCENSION
10h
8h
Castor
Pollux
Mars
GEMINI
6
Jupiter Pleiades
Mar 3
ARIES
6h
4h
2h
+20°
+30°
+40°
Venus
E
C
L
I
P
T
I C
DECLINATION

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Sky & Telescope - March 2025

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