What's Up: March 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA

What are some skywatching highlights in March 2025? March has great opportunities to spy fast-moving Mercury, stay up late to enjoy a total eclipse of the Moon, and learn about the dark side of the Moon! Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.

What is said in the film

What's Up for March A good time to catch Mercury, an eclipse approaches, and the dark side of the Moon. March begins with Venus still hanging out low in the west after sunset, but it quickly drops out of the sky. By mid-month, it's getting lost in the glare of sunset. Once it gets dark, you'll find Jupiter and Mars high overhead, keeping you company through the evening. Mars sets a couple of hours after midnight this month, leaving the morning sky “planet free” for the first time in a year.

March also has the best opportunity this year for trying to spot fast-moving Mercury. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere. It's only visible for a few weeks at a time every 3 to 4 months. This is because the speedy planet orbits the sun in just 88 days, so it quickly shifts its position in the sky from day to day. It's always visible either just after sunset or just before sunrise.

On March 7th through 9th, look for Mercury beginning about 30 minutes after sunset in the west, about ten degrees above the horizon. You'll want to ensure your view isn't blocked by trees, buildings, or other obstructions. Observing from a large open field or the shore of a lake or the seaside can be helpful. Spying Mercury isn't always easy, but catching the fleet-footed planet is a worthy goal for any skywatcher. There's a total lunar eclipse on the way this month visible across the Americas.

Lunar eclipses can be viewed from anywhere the Moon is above the horizon at the time. The show unfolds overnight on March 13th and into the 14th, depending on your time zone. Check the schedule for your area for precise timing. Now, during a total lunar eclipse, we watch as the Moon passes through Earth's shadow. It first appears to have a bite taken out of one side, but as maximum eclipse nears, the Moon transforms into a deep crimson orb.

That red color comes from the ring of all the sunsets and sunrises you'd see encircling our planet if you were an astronaut on the lunar surface right then. Afterward, the eclipse plays out in reverse, with the red color fading and the dark bite shrinking until the Moon looks like its usual self again. And here's an interesting pattern: eclipses always arrive in pairs. A couple of weeks before or after a lunar eclipse, there's always a solar eclipse. And this time, it's a partial solar eclipse that will be visible across Eastern Canada, Greenland and Northern Europe.

The Moon has a dark side, but it may not be what you think. As it orbits around Earth each month, the Moon is also rotating or spinning. So, while we always see the same face of the Moon, sunlight sweeps across the lunar surface every month as it rotates. This means there's no permanently “dark” side. The Moon's dark side faces Earth when the Moon passes between our planet and the sun each month.

This is the moment when the Moon is said to be “new,” as in a fresh start for its changing phases. The new moon is also located quite close to the sun in the sky, making it more or less invisible unless there's a solar eclipse. Nights around the new moon phase provide excellent opportunities for observing the sky, especially if you're using a telescope or doing astrophotography. Without moonlight washing out the sky. You can better see faint stars, nebulas, the Milky Way, and distant galaxies.

So next time someone mentions the “dark side of the Moon,” you'll know there's more to the story... and you might even discover some deep-sky treasures while the Moon takes its monthly break. Here are the phases of the Moon for March. Stay up to date on all of NASA's missions exploring the Solar System and beyond at science. nasa.

gov. I'm Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that's What's Up for this month.

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