Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron.
Friday, March 20
The spring equinox occurs at 10:46 a.m. EDT, bringing astronomical spring to the Northern Hemisphere as the Sun stands directly over Earth’s equator. On this day, the Sun is also located on the celestial equator as its path takes it from south to north of this invisible line. Meteorological spring, measured in different ways, began on March 1.
Equinox is known as the date when night and day are of equal length. But you may notice that the range of sunlight and darkness is slightly different from your location. This is because the length of night and day depends on your location on Earth, including the fact that the Sun appears about ½° across in our sky – a far cry from a tiny dot. So, because sunrise and sunset are usually defined as the time when the upper edge of the Sun’s disk reaches the horizon, this gives a slight boost to the length of the day. Earth’s atmosphere provides another boost, refracting sunlight and making the Sun visible for a short time before physically breaking the horizon at sunrise and sinking below that point at sunset. This effect also depends on your location on Earth.
Therefore, while the equinox is often referred to as the day when sunlight and darkness are balanced, the truth is that daylight on the equinox is usually at least a few minutes longer than night.
Sunrise: 7:03 am
sunset: 7:12 pm
Moonrise: 7:38 am
Moonset: 9:31 pm
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (6%)
*Times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset are given as per local time from 40° North to 90° West. The moonlight is illuminated from the same location at 10 pm local time.
Saturday, March 21
The 90-mile-wide (145-kilometer) asteroid 20 Massalia reaches opposition at 11 AM EDT. Shining at 9th magnitude, it will be visible all night in the constellation Virgo, located 3.7° southeast of 4th-magnitude Beta (β) Virginis.
But you may have other plans tonight: It’s the ideal night to run the 2026 Messier Marathon. This annual event challenges observers to see every object in the Charles Messier catalog in a single night, from sunrise to sunset. According to the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) website, the full list of 109 objects (Astronomy The magazine does not include the M110) can be attempted by observers between 7 and 35 degrees north. Those limits are determined by the visibility of M30, a globular cluster in Capricorn that rises shortly before the Sun.
But even if you’re an inexperienced observer or unable to take in the entire night, you can still enjoy some of the best that Messier has to offer. In the early evening, the Orion Nebula, one of the most famous entries in the catalogue, is visible above the southwestern horizon. Cataloged as M42, this huge, bright star-forming nebula is visible to the naked eye, below the easternmost (left) star in Orion’s belt. Measuring approximately 85′ by 60′, the nebula shines at magnitude 4.0 and is a favorite in any telescope. Take your time examining its intricate structure, and especially look for the Trapezium cluster of young, hot stars at its center.
Sunrise: 7:02 am
sunset: 7:13 pm
Moonrise: 8:06 am
Moonset: 10:48 pm
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (12%)
Sunday, March 22
Neptune reaches conjunction with the Sun at 7 a.m. EDT; It will be visible again in the morning sky in mid-April.
The moon reaches perigee, its closest point to Earth in its orbit, at 7:40 a.m. EDT, when it will be 227,954 miles (366,856 km) away.
Asteroid 7 is drifting through Iris Sextan, passing close to a close pair of stars that provides an anchor for those interested in watching the space rock’s movement across the sky. Go outside early this evening and look southeast to find the constellation Sextans, located to the right just below the relaxed figure of a lion rising in the sky. Today, Iris is 2.6° north of mid-fourth-magnitude Alpha (α) Sextantis, and about ¼° southwest of an unequal double of stars (these require optical aid to identify). Located roughly on an east-west line, the brightest of these suns is 7th magnitude, while the faintest is 8th magnitude. Iris, now measuring magnitude 9.4, is fainter than either of these, but closer to them than any background star. Use this pair as an anchor point and you’ll be able to watch Iris’ slow drift across the sky over the course of three or so hours.
Sunrise: 7:00 am
sunset: 7:14 pm
Moonrise: 8:40 am
Moonset: —
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (21%)
Monday, March 23
The waxing Moon passes 5° north of Uranus in Taurus at 4 a.m. EDT. By evening, our satellite is still within range of the Bull, about 13° away from the vast field of ice in the distance. As the region slowly sinks to the west, the Moon also lies above the bright Pleiades constellation; Many observers had probably visited here only a few days earlier to capture the cluster of young suns as object number. Ranked 45th in Messier’s famous list.
Dawn is slowly breaking near the moon. By now, all of Mare Nectaris – the ocean of nectar – is bathed in sunlight. Look to the southwestern side of the mare to see the circular crater Piccolomini, whose central peak stands tall. This crater marks the end of the Altai Scarp (also known as Rupes Altai), the most prominent scarp visible to our satellite from Earth. Piccolomini is a young crater that formed after the scarp, essentially coming on top of its lower end 3.2 million to 3.8 million years ago.
Scarpas are steeply sloping features that scientists believe were formed as the Moon cooled. The ground level on each side of the scarp is at different heights, usually several yards or more.
Sunrise: 6:58 am
sunset: 7:15 pm
Moonrise: 9:22 am
Moonset: 12:05 am
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (31%)
Tuesday, March 24
Today’s goal is for early risers: Open Cluster M18 in Sagittarius.
Rising around 2 a.m. local daylight time, by 4:30 the constellation has reached an altitude of 20° above the southern horizon. It is located above the famous Teapot asterism, about 8.5° north-northeast of Lambda (λ) Sagittari, at the top of the Teapot lid, and near Sagittarius’s border with the scutum and Serpens Cauda.
The magnitude of the nearest jumping-off point is 3.8 mu (μ) sag; From this star, scan 4° north-northeast to land on magnitude 6.9 M18. Just under 10′ across, M18 is a scattered cluster of young stars consisting of between a dozen and two dozen stars. A magnification of 100x or higher is the best magnification, according to Contributing Editor Michael E. Bakich, who notes that higher magnification spreads out the cluster’s stars too much for easy identification, and blends them with the many background stars in this rich region of the galaxy.
Sunrise: 6:57 am
sunset: 7:17 pm
Moonrise: 10:14 am
Moonset: 1:21 am
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent (42%)
Wednesday, March 25
Saturn now reaches conjunction with the Sun at 5 a.m. EDT. Like Neptune, it will return to visibility in mid-April, when it will be in the pre-dawn sky.
The first quarter moon will be at 3:18 pm EDT today.
Although Uranus was difficult to see earlier in the week due to its proximity to the Moon, now is a good time to take a look at the distant world. After dark, you’ll find Taurus the Bull still at about 30° elevation to the west. The Pleiades star cluster is easy to find near the northeastern corner of Taurus, and it’s our starting point tonight.
About 4.5° south-southwest of the Pleiades (lower left this evening) is a pair of stars that should be visible with binoculars or a small scope. Located just 20′ apart in an east-west line, they are magnitude 6.1 14 Tauri and magnitude 5.7 13 Tauri. The weaker of the two, 14 Tau, lies just 5′ north of Uranus this evening.
Uranus is slightly brighter than 14 Tau – at magnitude 5.8, it will more closely match the brightness of nearby 13 Tau. But Uranus will look like a somewhat “flat” brown star rather than a pinprick of light. Its small disk extends only about 3 inches across, but can appear circular in good conditions and especially at large scopes.
Sunrise: 6:55 am
sunset: 7:18 pm
Moonrise: 11:17 am
Moonset: 2:27 am
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous (54%)
Thursday, March 26
Mars reaches perihelion, the closest point in its orbit to the Sun, at 3 a.m. EDT. The red planet is then 128 million miles (206 million km) from our star. Mars is difficult to observe right now because it is too close to the Sun in our sky. Over the next few weeks, it will begin to rise earlier and earlier, and should soon become more easily visible before sunrise.
The moon passes 4° north of Jupiter at 8 a.m. EDT. By evening, they are high overhead in Gemini the Twins, now about 8° apart as the Moon approaches Pollux, which is slightly brighter than either brother’s head. Many observers will see the Moon pass in front of magnitude 3.6 Kappa (κ) Geminorum this evening. From Kansas City, the star peeks out from behind our satellite’s dark leading limb at 11:09 p.m. CDT. If you want to check if the occultation is visible from your location as well as the time of the disappearance, visit the International Occultation Timing Association’s webpage for 2026 bright star occultation predictions and locate your nearest city.
Earlier in the evening, as darkness falls over the eastern half of the US, if you are looking at Jupiter through binoculars, the large, dark patch of Ganymede’s shadow can be seen at the top of the Jovian clouds. The Galilean moon itself is to the west of Jupiter, closer than Io, and also to the planet’s west. To Jupiter’s east are Europa (closer) and Callisto. The shadow transit ends shortly before 9:25 PM EDT.
But the action is not over yet. Over the next few hours watch as Europa closes in on Jupiter from the east. The Snow Moon finally begins transit around 1:45 a.m. CDT on the 27th — note the time change, as Jupiter is too low (4 degrees or more) for East Coast folks. Europa’s transit takes about three hours, and its shadow finally appears at about 2:20 a.m. PDT on the 27th, when the planet sets for much of the Americas.
Sunrise: 6:53 am
sunset: 7:19 pm
Moonrise: 12:27 pm
Moonset: 3:21 am
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous (65%)
Friday, March 27
The Moon is now in central Cancer, passing near the outskirts of the Beehive Cluster (M44) tonight.
One hour after sunset, the region is about 65° above the southeastern horizon. M44 is located just southeast of the moon, less than 2° from our satellite, the center of the cluster. Binoculars or a small telescope should show both in the same field of view, although the bright moon will wash out the fainter cluster stars. The beehive covers an area of approximately 95′, which is approximately three times the width of the full moon. It can be easily seen with the unaided eye, although the nearby Moon will again obstruct the view without optical aid. In total, this young group of stars has about 350 members, ranging from 700 million to 800 million years old.
Throughout the night, the Moon will move to the southeast in the sky, passing just past the outskirts of the cluster. Around midnight Eastern Time, the Moon is located north of the center of the beehive. Our satellite will continue to move away from the cluster in the early morning hours of the 28th as the region dips to the west a few hours before sunrise.
Sunrise: 6:52 am
sunset: 7:20 pm
Moonrise: 1:41 pm
Moonset: 4:08 am
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous (75%)
