Astronomy This Month — March 2026
| 03 Mar – Full Moon (06:38EST) |
| 03 Mar – !!Sunrise Lunar Eclipse!!
• 03:44EST – penumbral phase begins, moon 30º above WSW horizon • 04:49EST – umbral phase begins, moon 18.5º above W horizon • 06:04EST – totality begins, moon 5º above W horizon • 06:34EST – mid-totality, moon 1º above W horizon • 06:38EST – moon sets at azimuth 278º • 06:40EST – sun rises at azimuth 99º |
| 07 Mar – Saturn (mag 1.0) 1º left of 90 times brighter Venus (mag-3.9) very low in W after sunset |
| 08 Mar – Daylight Saving Time starts (02:00EST) |
| 08 Mar – Saturn (mag 1.0) 1º lower left of Venus (mag-3.9) very low in W after sunset |
| 08 Mar – zodiacal light visible in western sky after evening twilight for next 2 weeks |
| 11 Mar – Last Quarter Moon |
| 11 Mar – gegenschein may be visible from very dark skies near midnight for next 2 weeks |
| 12 Mar – (1027) Aesculapia (mag 15.4) occults star UCAC4 551-044990 (mag 10.1) (23:04EDT) |
| 13 Mar – (222847) 2002 EL85 (mag 19.6) occults star J120321.80+031330.4 (mag 9.6) 04:45EDT |
| 18 Mar – New Moon (21:23EDT) |
| 18 Mar – (82) Alkmene (mag 12.2) occults star TYC 1899-01592-1 (mag 9.5) 22:59EDT. |
| 20 Mar – spring equinox – Sun is over the equator, spring begins in Nrn hemisphere (10:46EDT) |
| 21 Mar – (20) Massalia (mag 8.9) at opposition |
| 25 Mar – First Quarter Moon (15:18EDT) |
| 25 Mar – (15) Eunomia (mag 9.7) at opposition |
| 27 Mar (evening of 26th!) – waning gibbous Moon occults κ Gem (mag 3.6)
Disappearance behind dark limb at 00:08EDT, reappearance from bright limb at 01:10EDT. κ Gem has a mag 9.4 companion which disappears about 10s before κ Gem. |
| 01 Apr – Full Moon (22:12EDT) |
| 03 Apr – Mercury (mag 0.4) at greatest elongation west very low in the eastern sky before sunrise |
| 03 Apr – zodiacal light visible in the western sky after evening twilight’s end |
| 04 Apr – Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) perihelion, very near the Sun, very low in west at sunset – reaches mag -1?? |
| 06 Apr – Fang (mag 2.9) 3.5’ N of Moon’s limb (00:50EDT) |
| 10 Apr – Last Quarter Moon |
| 15 Apr – (4063) Euforbo (mag 16.1) occults TYC 1451-00474-1 (mag11.0) over much of SE Ontario (2050EDT) |
| 15 Apr – (24302) 1999 XP242 (mag 19.2) occults TYC 2477-01033-1 (mag 8.32) over Kingston (2200EDT) |
| 17 Apr – New Moon (0752EDT) |
| 18 Apr – thin crescent (1.5d old) Moon 6º right of Venus (mag -3.9) during evening twilight |
| 22 Apr – Lyrid meteor shower peaks midafternoon, best midnight-dawn and again starting late evening; minor shower, ~15 meteors/hour |
| 23 Apr – |
| 23 Apr – First Quarter Moon |
| 25 Apr – Moon narrowly misses Regulus by 2 arcmin (21:00EDT) |
| 26 Apr – Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion just south of Sun, – reaches mag -1??probably invisible |