An early morning total eclipse of the moon is the highlight of March skies this year.
Although the eclipse will be visible across the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as in Australia and Asia, those in the Eastern time zone will see only the first half of the eclipse.
The full moon rises on March 2 among the stars of Leo.
After midnight on March 3, the moon will begin to enter the Earth’s shadow, beginning the partial phase of the eclipse, at 4:50 a.m. EST [Eastern Standard Time]. This also will be at 3:50 a.m. in the Central time zone.
The moon will appear to darken as it progresses into Earth’s shadow and will begin to assume an orange hue.
When totality begins at 6:04 a.m. [EST] with the moon completely inside Earth’s shadow, we will find it hard to see with twilight from the rising of the sun interfering, and the moon’s low altitude above the western horizon.
Sunrise on March 3 [EST] will be at 7:10 a.m.
This is why skywatchers in the Eastern time zone will see only about half of the eclipse. But it is still worthwhile to look, especially between 5 and 6:10 a.m.
In the Central time zone the moon will be 20 degrees above the western horizon, and observers in the Mountain and Pacific zones will see the total eclipse in a dark sky.
Venus is a bright and easy target in the western evening sky 40 minutes after sunset all month.
On March 7 and 8, much dimmer Saturn is just left and slightly above Venus. Binoculars may be necessary to see the ringed planet.
By the end of March, Saturn will be lost in the glare of the sun for awhile.
Jupiter is March’s dominant planet sitting at its highest altitude in the southern sky at 8:30 p.m. [EST] on March 1, and 7:30 p.m. [Eastern Daylight Time, EDT] on March 31.
We revert to daylight saving time on the night of March 7/8, pushing our clocks ahead one hour when we retire for the night.
Vernal equinox, the first day of spring, occurs exactly at 10:46 a.m. [EDT] on March 20. Daytime and nighttime are approximately equal then.
Day length gradually increases each day after this until mid-June, with the sun appearing higher in the sky with each passing day. This is all due to the tilt of Earth and the changes of the position of the Earth in our orbital revolution around the sun.