Connecticut Sky Watch: March 2026

March arrives with one of the most dramatic sky events of the decade — a total lunar eclipse that turns the Full Moon a deep copper-red in the pre-dawn hours. The month continues to reward observers with a dazzling Venus–Saturn conjunction, the return of the Milky Way's core, the vernal equinox, and the best dark-sky window of early spring. Winter's great constellations linger in the west as Leo and the spring sky take over the east.

The Highlights

Total Lunar Eclipse — Blood Moon (March 2–3)

March opens with its showpiece event: a total lunar eclipse, the last one visible from North America until 2029. The Moon enters Earth's penumbral shadow at approximately 11:57 PM EST on March 2, and the partial phase begins around 1:07 AM EST on March 3. Totality — when the Moon glows a deep orange-red — runs from approximately 2:26 AM to 3:24 AM EST, lasting just under an hour.

From Connecticut, the Moon will be sinking toward the west-northwest during totality, sitting roughly 15–20° above the horizon at mid-eclipse. This means observers will need a clear western horizon, but the low altitude actually adds a dramatic effect: the Blood Moon hanging over the rooftops and treelines in the pre-dawn darkness. Set your alarm — this is the last total lunar eclipse for almost three years.

Full Worm Moon (March 3)

February's Full Snow Moon gives way to March's Full Worm Moon, so named by early Native American tribes for the earthworms that begin to emerge as the ground softens. The Moon reaches full phase at 6:38 AM EST on March 3 — just as eclipse totality ends and morning twilight brightens the sky. This lunation sits in Leo, near the bright star Regulus.

Venus–Saturn Conjunction (March 7–8)

Brilliant Venus and golden Saturn draw close in the western sky on the evenings of March 7 and 8, fitting within the same binocular field of view. Look west about 30 to 40 minutes after sunset — Venus blazes at magnitude –3.9 and will be easy to spot; use it as your guide to locate Saturn (magnitude +1.0) just above or to its right. The two planets set roughly 70 minutes after the Sun. Through a telescope, Venus shows a nearly full disk at this point, while Saturn’s famous rings are tilted about 5 degrees from edge-on.

New Moon & Messier Marathon (March 18–19)

The New Moon arrives at 8:23 PM EDT on March 18, gifting observers with the darkest skies of the month. The nights surrounding New Moon are prime time for the annual Messier Marathon — an ambitious attempt to view all 110 objects in Charles Messier’s famous catalog in a single night. From a dark Connecticut site, expert observers can complete the list. The window of greatest opportunity falls on March 19 and 20, when Messier objects spread from Pisces in the evening west to Virgo rising in the east. Start by hunting the faint galaxies in Virgo and Coma Berenices shortly after dark, then work your way around the sky.

Spring Equinox (March 20)

The vernal equinox arrives at 10:46 AM EDT on March 20, marking the astronomical first day of spring. Day and night are approximately equal in length, and from this point forward Connecticut evenings grow longer with each passing day. Astronomers have noted that geomagnetic activity — and thus aurora sightings — tends to increase around the equinoxes due to the Russell–McPherron effect. Keep an eye on space weather forecasts throughout March if you hope to catch the northern lights.

The Evening Sky

Winter still holds court in the western half of the sky at the start of March, though its grip is loosening. Orion the Hunter is past his prime position but still well placed in the southwest after dark, and the Winter Circle of bright stars — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Castor, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — arcs across the southern sky. Jupiter reigns supreme at the center of this gathering, outshining every star it stands among.

As the month progresses, Orion slides earlier toward the horizon and Leo strides into dominance in the southeast. The distinctive backwards question-mark of Leo’s sickle asterism, anchored by bright Regulus, climbs high by 9 PM by month’s end. Virgo’s bright star Spica rises behind Leo, announcing the arrival of galaxy season. The Milky Way’s galactic core — invisible all winter — begins to peek above the southeastern horizon in the pre-dawn hours by late March.

Look east for Bootes and the brilliant orange star Arcturus, one of the sky's brightest, climbing earlier each evening. Spring arrives in the sky when Arcturus clears the treetops.

Planetary Highlights

Jupiter

Jupiter remains the undisputed king of the evening sky, shining at a commanding magnitude –2.2 in Gemini. It stands high in the south at nightfall and doesn’t set until well after midnight. This month, Jupiter briefly pauses its retrograde motion and resumes eastward travel on March 10 — a milestone you can watch unfold against the background stars of Gemini over several weeks. On the evenings of March 24 and 25, a waxing gibbous Moon glides through Gemini and passes within a few degrees of Jupiter, making for a spectacular naked-eye and binocular pairing. Through a telescope, Jupiter’s disk spans 39–43 arcseconds this month — wide enough to reveal the two main cloud belts, subtler banding, and the Great Red Spot when it rotates into view.

Venus

Venus dominates the western sky after sunset, blazing at magnitude –3.9 — unmistakable to anyone looking west within an hour of sunset. The planet is gaining altitude as it extends its elongation from the Sun, becoming an easier and easier evening-sky object as the month goes on. On March 7 and 8, it draws close to Saturn in a lovely conjunction. A slender crescent Moon pairs beautifully with Venus on March 19 and 20 for a memorable twilight scene. Through a telescope, Venus shows a nearly fully lit disk early in the month, shrinking and thickening into a larger crescent as it moves toward inferior conjunction later in the year.

Saturn

Saturn (magnitude +1.0) lingers low in the west-southwest after sunset at the start of March, but time is running out. The ringed planet sets only about 75 minutes after the Sun at month’s start, and disappears into the evening twilight by mid-month as it heads toward solar conjunction. Catch the Venus–Saturn conjunction on March 7–8 while you can — after that, Saturn slips away into the Sun’s glare until it reappears as a morning object later in the spring.

Mercury & Mars

Mercury transitions from the evening sky into the morning sky this month. After its greatest eastern elongation in February, it is quickly lost in the solar glare and passes inferior conjunction early in March. By late March, Mercury begins to appear in the pre-dawn sky to the east. Mars is similarly unfavorably placed, close to the Sun and not well positioned for observation this month.

Uranus

Uranus (magnitude +5.8) rides high in Taurus all evening, just south of the famous Pleiades star cluster. This is one of the best months of the year to hunt it down. Locate the Pleiades (M45) first with binoculars, then look about 4 to 5 degrees to the south — Uranus appears as a faint, slightly blue-green ‘star.’ Use stars 13 and 14 Tauri as your guide; at the start of March, Uranus stands very close to 13 Tauri. On a steady night, a telescope will reveal its tiny, featureless disc. Uranus sets around midnight.

Deep-Sky Targets

March marks the dawn of galaxy season, when Earth’s nightside faces away from the Milky Way’s disk and straight out into the universe beyond. The Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the nearest large galaxy cluster to our own Local Group, rises in the east after dark and contains dozens of Messier objects including M87, M84, M86, and the grand spiral M49.

The Orion Nebula (M42) is still well placed in the southwest early in the evening — grab it before it sets. This stellar nursery, visible as a fuzzy patch below Orion’s belt with the naked eye, reveals stunning detail through any telescope.

The Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer sits high overhead in the early evening. This expansive open cluster spans three times the apparent width of the Full Moon and is best viewed through binoculars from a suburban backyard.

The Leo Triplet — three galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628 — fits within a single low-power binocular or telescope field south of the bright star Chertan in Leo. All three are bright enough to detect from a moderately dark site with even a 4-inch telescope.

From a truly dark site, the Coma Berenices star cluster (Mel 111) sprawls across several degrees of sky north of Leo, best appreciated without a telescope — just binoculars or the naked eye from dark skies like the Litchfield Hills.

Special Observing Opportunities

Zodiacal Light (March 8–18)

With the New Moon on March 18–19 ushering in two weeks of dark evenings, the two weeks beforehand also offer good zodiacal light conditions in the west after evening twilight ends. Look for a faint, pyramid-shaped glow extending upward from the western horizon along the ecliptic about 90 minutes after sunset. Spring is the best season for zodiacal light in the evening sky because the ecliptic stands nearly vertical in the west. The Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut offer the state’s best dark-sky access for this subtle phenomenon.

Moon Near Venus (March 19–20)

On March 19, a razor-thin one-day-old crescent Moon makes a challenging appearance about 6 degrees to the lower right of Venus. Hunt for it low in the west within 45 minutes of sunset before it sets. The following evening (March 20), a wider crescent Moon stands about 9 degrees above Venus in a much easier pairing — a beautiful scene in binoculars with the crescent’s earthshine visible on its dark limb.

Moon Near the Pleiades (March 22–23)

A young waxing crescent Moon approaches the Pleiades star cluster on the evenings of March 22 and 23. Observers farther north in Canada may see the Moon actually occult several Pleiades stars; from Connecticut, the Moon passes close enough for a stunning binocular pairing with the Seven Sisters and nearby orange Aldebaran.

Moon Near Jupiter (March 24–25)

The waxing crescent Moon drifts through Gemini on March 24–25 and passes within a few degrees of brilliant Jupiter, with the bright stars Pollux and Castor providing an additional backdrop. A beautiful wide-field photograph opportunity.

Moon Near Regulus (March 29)

The waxing gibbous Moon passes near Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, on March 29. (European observers will see a lunar occultation of Regulus on this date; from Connecticut, the Moon passes close but does not cover the star.) Still a lovely sight in binoculars.

Space News

Artemis II — Still on Hold

NASA’s Artemis II mission, which would carry four astronauts around the Moon and back in the first crewed lunar flight since 1972, faced a delay due to a helium system issue on the upper stage, pushing the earliest launch window to no sooner than April 2026. As you look at the Moon rising over Connecticut this month, know that humans may be circling it before spring is out.

Galaxy Season Begins

As March’s dark skies arrive, so does the return of the extragalactic universe. The Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope continue their science operations, recently delivering stunning new imagery of galaxy mergers in the Virgo Cluster — the same cluster you can observe from your backyard this month. We are looking at the same galaxies with our eyes that humanity’s greatest observatories study in infrared.

Observing Tips for Connecticut

•       Best dark-sky sites: Head to the Litchfield Hills, Peoples State Forest, or the quiet rural corners of Windham County for the state’s darkest skies. Avoid the glow from Hartford, New Haven, and the shoreline.

•       Spring transition: March nights start cold but moderate quickly. Temperatures can swing from the 20s early in the month to the 40s by month’s end. Layer up, and always bring more insulation than you think you’ll need.

•       Dark adaptation: Allow 20–30 minutes away from bright lights for your night vision to fully develop. Use a dim red flashlight to read star charts without ruining your adaptation.

•       Lunar eclipse prep: For the March 2–3 eclipse, scout your western horizon in advance. A site with a clear view to the west-northwest is essential, as the Moon will be low during totality from Connecticut.

•       Messier Marathon timing: The best night for a Messier Marathon from Connecticut is March 19–20, the evening of New Moon. Start immediately after astronomical twilight ends in the west, hunting Messier objects in Pisces and Aquarius before they set, then work eastward through the night.

•       Equinox auroras: Solar wind activity often increases around the equinoxes. Check spaceweather.com or the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center for Kp-index forecasts during mid-to-late March.

Clear skies!

Glastonbury Planetarium