Astronomy News for the Month of March 2025


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Rocket Report for 03/18/2025 through 04/01/2025
Courtesy of "The Rocketman" Ed W6RDZ
Updated Weekly on Tuesday evenings
prior to the Colorado Astronomy Net

In this Newsletter...


Background screen credits: NGC5775
Imaged March 21/22, 2001
using the 16" Kitt Peak Visitors Center telescope
as part of the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program.


"A total lunar eclipse will wow North and South America this month as the Moon passes through Earth's penumbra, as it did during the November 2022 eclipse pictured here." Astronomy Magazine, March 2025, p. 28. - Dylan O'Donnell


The Month At-A-Glance
A calendar displaying the daily astronomical events.


14 day moon

The Moon

Phases

Apogee/Perigee

Moon/Planet Pairs

For reference: The Full Moon subtends an angle of ~0.5°.

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Calendar of All Astronomical Events 2025

The Planets & Dwarf Planets

Planetary Reports generated by "TheSkyX" software. These reports provide predicted data for the planets for the first of each month for the current year. The rise and set times for the Sun and the Moon for each day of the month as well as meteor shower radiants are also included in the reports. These reports have been optimized for the Denver, Colorado location, however, the times will be approximate for other locations on Earth.

(Times are Mountain Daylight Time (MDT/MST) unless otherwise noted. Times will vary slightly depending on your location.)

Planetary Highlights for March

"A total eclipse of the Moon is the highlight of this month, visible across North and South America. Venus remains very bright and transitions from evening to morning late in the month. Mercury joins Venus for a few evenings, offering the best opportunity to see both planets in twilight. Mars and Jupiter dominate the late evenings, providing many hours of planetary observation with tantalizing features to see in small scopes." Astronomy Magazine, March 2025, p. 28.

Mercury

Is at greatest eastern elongation (18°) on the 8th. Mercury is stationary on the 14th. Mercury is in inferior conjunction on the 24th. Mercury sets at 7:13 p.m. on the 1st. After conjunction, Mercury returns to the morning sky, rising about 6:06 a.m. by month's end. Mercury is visible about 30 minutes after sunset just above the western horizon during the first two weeks of March. Mercury is in the constellation of Pisces shining at magnitude -1.0 on the 1st.

Venus

Is in inferior conjunction on the 22nd. Venus sets about 8:27 p.m. on the 1st and about 6:16 p.m. by month's end. Look for Venus to the west about 30 minutes after sunset. Venus is in the constellation of Pisces shining at magnitude -4.8 on the 1st.

Earth

Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the U.S. at 2:00 a.m. local on the 9th.

Vernal equinox occurs at 5:01 A.M. EDT on the 20th.

Mars

Sets at 4:17 a.m. on the 1st and about 3:35 a.m. by month's end. Look for Mars to the south in the evening. Follow Mars across the sky for the rest of the evening and into the early morning hours. Mars is the constellation of Gemini shining at magnitude 0.1.

Jupiter

Sets at 1:27 a.m. on the 1st and about 12:44 a.m. by month's end. Jupiter is easy to spot to the south-southwest in the evening sky. Follow Jupiter across the sky for the rest of the evening. Jupiter is in the constellation of Taurus shining at magnitude -2.2.

Saturn

Is in conjunction with the Sun on the 12th. Saturn sets at 6:34 p.m. on the 1st. After conjunction, Saturn returns to the morning sky, rising about 6:13 a.m. by month's end. Look for Saturn very low to the west during the first week of the month and then very low to the east during the last week of the month. Saturn is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 1.1.

Uranus

Sets at 11:52 p.m. on the 1st and about 10:56 p.m. by month's end. Look for Uranus to the southwest soon after sunset. Uranus is in the constellation Taurus shining at magnitude 5.8.

Neptune

Is in conjunction with the Sun on the 19th. Neptune sets at 7:15 p.m. on the 1st. After conjunction, Neptune returns to the morning sky rising about 6:23 a.m. by the month's end. Look for Neptune to the west following Saturn by less than an hour during the first week of the month. Neptune is in the constellation of Pisces shining at magnitude 7.8.

Dwarf Planets

Ceres

Rises at 6:48 a.m. on the 1st and about 6:17 a.m. by month's end. Ceres is lost in the morning twilight glow all month and is not visible. Ceres is in the constellation of Aquarius shining at magnitude 9.2.

Pluto

Rises at 5:03 a.m. on the 1st and about 4:04 a.m. by month's end. Pluto can be spotted before sunrise to the east. Pluto is in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude 15.3.

As always, good luck at spotting Neptune, Ceres and Pluto, a large telescope and dark skies will be needed.

Constellation information provided by Go Astronomy.

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Astronomical Events

Meteor Showers

  • "EARLY SPRING is not well known for meteor showers, with no major events occurring this month. It is, however, a great month to spot the zodiacal light. The best opportunities occur when the Moon is out of the way, in the first three days of March and again during the last two weeks of the month.

    Look for a delicate cone-shaped glow extending above the horizon through Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. Try using peripheral vision to spot the arching cone of light by scanning your eyes left to right along the western horizon. You'll need a clear, dark horizon unaffected by lights or distant city glows, which mask the effect.

    The zodiacal light is aligned with the ecliptic, Earth's orbital plane, and comes from sunlight reflecting off fine, dusty debris littering the inner solar system, left over by passing comets long ago." Astronomy Magazine, March 2025, p. 29.

    Meteor Shower Radiant Report

    For more information about Meteor Showers, visit Gary Kronk's Meteor Showers Online web page.

    Meteor Scatter (or Meteor burst communications) - "is a radio propagation mode that exploits the ionized trails of meteors during atmospheric entry to establish brief communications paths between radio stations up to 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) apart." Tune your shortwave or your HF amateur radio to 54.310 MHz SSB and see if you can hear any pings. Try other frequencies as well... 6m FT8 digital - 50.313 Mhz & 50.276 Mhz, JP-65 digital mode and the carrier frequencies of the lower VHF bands for TV channels 2, 3 & 4.

    Meteor Rx How-To by Terry Bullett (WØASP)

  • Comets

  • Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is visible in the southern hemisphere in the constellation of Phoenix. Comet G3 will dim from magnitude 8.5 to 11.4 this month as is recedes from the Sun.

  • Comet C/2022 E2 (ATLAS) is visible in the northern hemisphere in the constellation of Andromeda, shining around magnitude 12.

  • For information, orbital elements and ephemerides on observable comets, visit Observable Comets.

    For more information about Comets, visit Gary Kronk's Cometography.com webpage.

  • Eclipses

    Solar Eclipses

    A partial solar eclipse occurs on the 29th, visible northeastern US, eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe and northern Russia. Maximum eclipse occurs on March 29 at 10:47:27 UTC.

    Lunar Eclipses

    A total lunar eclipse occurs on the 13/14th, visible over North and South America. Maximum eclipse occurs on March 14 at 06:58:42 UTC.

    Observational Opportunities

  • Look for *Saturn, *Neptune, *Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars in the evening from the west to south. *First week of the month.

  • Asteroids

    (From west to east)
    Ocultations

    IOTA Logo

  • Information on various occultations can be found by clicking the IOTA logo.

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    Member Meteor Sightings

    In this section I will post meteor, fireball, etc sightings that have been published on the American Meteor Society's web site. I want to make this an active section of the web pages and newsletter and would like to publish the links to member sightings. If you have any published sightings, please provide me with the links and I will post them here for all to enjoy.

    Event ID Date/Time Location Observer Link
    3871-2015 2015-11-13 01:55 MST CO Charles N 3871a
    3587-2015 2015-11-22 17:38 MST CO Kevin S 3587aw
    3829-2015 2015-12-05 18:06 MST CO Burness A 3829a
      986-2020 2020-02-21 22:20 MST CO Lukas S 986
    3716-2020 2020-07-24 23:22 MDT CO Lukas S 3716
    4774-2021 2021-08-13 21:57 MDT UT Lukas S 4774
    7044-2021 2021-10-28 20:37 MDT CO Burness A 249058
    6763-2022 2022-10-06 05:56 CDT OK Mike C 6763
    5300-2023 2023-09-11 22:04 MDT CO Lukas S 5300
    578-2024 2024-01-28 23:05 MST CO Lukas S 578

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