What's in the skies for March 2025 - Autumn kicks off

The 1st of March marks the start of Autumn in Australia and New Zealand.

In the northern hemisphere autumn starts at the equinox, which can vary by a day or two. We start autumn on the 1st of the month to help farmers to keep consistent calendars to assist with crop plantings.

The first week of March sees  Jupiter and Mars still fairly high in the sky as it gets dark. Both planets are past the best time of the year to observe them but still worth taking a peek at them with a telescope. 

7th March is First Quarter Moon. The Moon will be visible as the Sun sets and dips below the horizon towards the middle of the night. Many folks starting out in astronomy often don't realise that this the time to observe the Moon, as the low angle of sunlight across the Lunar surface will highlight craters, mountains and much more. 

9th March the Moon and Mars appear close together in the sky .

View from Sydney on the 9th of March 2025 around 10.00pm local time. 

10th March is a good time to catch the famous M45 open cluster which is also known as The Pleiades or The Seven Sisters before it disappears from our night skies until the warmer months return. 

The Pleiades as seen in the north western sky around 8.30pm from Sydney on the 10th of March

This is a young, open cluster of stars about 100 millions years old and known to cultures throughout the world since ancient times. There's seven stars easily visible to your eyes and many more can be seen with binoculars or a telescope. You can read more about open clusters in this BINTEL article here. (This cluster will only be together for another 250 million years, so you'd better get a wriggle on to catch it!)

14th March is Full Moon.

Get your Moon Filters out!

20th March 8.01pm Sydney time is the Autumn Equinox 

The is one of two times in the year when each part of the Earth's surface receives roughly the same amount of sunlight and the night and day are about the same length.

The Sun crosses into the northern part of the sky. 

The autumn equinox for us here or the spring equinox for northern hemisphere readers. Image via timeanddate.com

22nd March is last quarter Moon

29th March is New Moon

Effectively this is when the entire side of the Moon that's always pointed towards is engulfed in darkness during the long Lunar night.

It's also a good time to catch the constellation of Orion before it spends the next few months in the daytime sky, hidden from view, before returning in spring.

Orion appears on its side as it does this time of the year, along with Jupiter and Mars. The view from Sydney 29th March 2025 around 8.00pm

What can't be seen from Australia:

March 14th a total Lunar Eclipse occurs which will not be visible from Australia.

March 29th a Partial Solar Eclipse will be visible from locations in the Northern hemisphere.

There's a lot more in the sky in March! Please comment with any events you'd like to mention and I'll add them to this article.

Cheers,

Earl White

BINTEL 

1st March 2025