Constellations and Astronomical Events Visible in March 2025!

Happy March! We’re starting the month with sunrise around 7:00 am and sunset around 6:30 pm. By the end of the month we will see sunrise around 7:20 am and sunset just before 8:00 pm gaining over an hour of sunlight by the end of the month. You may notice that the time of sunrise barely changes over the month, and that's because Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 9, at 2:00 am. So if you were to stay up during the night you would see your phone clock change from 1:59 am straight to 3:00 am skipping past 2:00-2:59 am. The United States uses Daylight Savings Time from March until November to add more daylight to the evenings, then switch back to Standard Time for the rest of the year to add more daylight to the mornings. Hopefully you aren’t planning a long observing run that night because you’ll lose an hour of your night!

Say goodbye to the cold winter because March 20th is the Vernal Equinox meaning the start of spring! During the Vernal Equinox, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is not facing towards or away meaning both the northern and southern hemisphere are getting the same amount of direct sunlight. This is what makes spring colder than summer but warmer than winter. In the diagram below you can see how the Earth’s axis is tilted during the Vernal Equinox.

The full moon this month will be on March 14th and the new moon will be on March 29th. This month the full moon will also be a total lunar eclipse visible in Ohio! A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes behind the Earth and enters its shadow. This blocks direct sunlight from reflecting off the Moon. The only light that reaches the Moon actually passes through Earth’s atmosphere first, scattering the blue and green wavelengths of light. The left over light covers red and orange wavelengths giving the lunar eclipse its orange and red hue. In the diagram below you can see how the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow. The total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is entirely in the umbra, the darkest part of Earth’s shadow. The total lunar eclipse will begin at 2:26 am and reach its peak at 2:59 am.

Mercury will reach its greatest eastern elongation this month on March 7th. This is the best time to view Mercury, so make sure you look above the western horizon just as the sun sets. Venus will also be visible close to Mercury just after sunset throughout the month. Mars will be visible high in the sky, appearing in the constellation Gemini just after sunset. Jupiter isn’t too far away, appearing in the constellation of Taurus throughout the month. Unfortunately Saturn will be passing behind the Sun this month (also known as solar conjunction) so it won’t be visible until May.

Even though Saturn won’t be visible this month, I wanted to highlight that on March 23rd, we will be passing through the plane of Saturn’s rings! This occurs about every 13 or 15 years when the tilt of Satrun’s axis becomes perpendicular to the line of sight from Earth. This can be seen in the image below showing how Saturn’s tilt changes over 15 years. Since this process takes so long you’ll still be able to see the rings appearing as a thin disk in September when Saturn reaches opposition, the best time for viewing the planet. 

Sources:

• https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/columbus?month=1
• http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2024.html
• https://in-the-sky.org/newscal.php?month=2&year=2025&maxdiff=7#datesel
• https://stellarium-web.org/
• https://earthsky.org/space/saturns-rings-are-disappearing-march-2025/

Image Credit:

• Earth Orbit Diagram: https://www.weather.gov/cle/Seasons
• Lunar eclipse diagram: https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20250314_09_100
• Saturn: https://earthsky.org/space/saturns-rings-are-disappearing-march-2025/