March’s Night Sky Has a Haunting Orange ‘Blood Moon,’ Potential Auroras, and the First Lunar Eclipse Since 2022

If last year whet your eclipse appetite, get excited for the night skies this month. Mid-March will bring a total lunar eclipse—a phenomenon that turns the full moon a haunting orange tone—to the skies above North America, South America, Europe, and much of Asia, Australia, and Africa.

That’s just the start of interstellar awe in store this month. We have a best-of-year Mercury sighting, above-average potential for northern lights, and one of the last glimpses of the planet alignment that’s bedazzled our skies for the past few months.

Read on for how to see March’s stargazing highlights, including where to look and when.

March 1-7: Planet Alignment

Catch yet another eye-popping planet alignment this week. Just after sunset from March 1 to March 7, you’ll see Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury dot the sky in an arc from the south to western skies, with the moon bouncing among them. Uranus will also join the party. It will be near the easily visible Pleiades star cluster, but Uranus does require a telescope or, at the very least, stargazing binoculars to see it. (Try a stargazing app like SkySafari to aid your planet-watching.) The closer to dusk the better for catching this alignment; Mercury will stay up for less than an hour after sunset. Saturn will also appear briefly these evenings, but the ringed planet will be nearly impossible to spot given its proximity to the sun.

March 7: Mercury Reaches Greatest Eastern Elongation

Speaking of Mercury, don’t miss its moment in the spotlight—or, away from our solar system’s spotlight—when it reaches its furthest evening distance from the sun on March 7. The planet stays close to the sun throughout the year, so it’s often washed out in the sun’s glow. Elongation provides the best views. Catch it this evening right after sunset; it stays up a little less than an hour, depending on your location.

March 8: The Moon Meets Mars

On the night of March 8, the moon and Mars will transit through the sky together from the south to the western sky. Weather permitting, the duo will remain visible until just before dawn, when they set below the western horizon.

March 14: Total Lunar Eclipse

If there’s one interstellar event to watch this spring, it’s the March 14 total lunar eclipse—the first lunar eclipse to grace our skies since November 2022, according to NASA. Around 1 a.m. ET, the moon will slowly enter Earth’s shadow, creating a partial eclipse that becomes a total lunar eclipse right around 2:30 a.m. ET, per Time and Date. During the roughly hour of totality—when the moon is fully in our planet’s shadow—the full moon turns a rusty tinge. Watch for it above the south-southwest horizon, and keep an eye out for Mars and Jupiter, which will glow in the western sky during these pre-dawn eclipse hours, too.

March 20: Spring Equinox

At 5 a.m. ET on March 20, the northern hemisphere will welcome the start of spring while the southern hemisphere will kick off fall. In addition to the season change, the equinox brings another treat for night-sky enthusiasts. It’s known to be a particularly active time for auroras due to the tilt of the Earth.

March 29: New Moon

If you’re plotting a stargazing trip—or better yet, a stargazing road trip on Tucson’s new Astro Trail—plan your adventure around March 29’s new moon. Stargazing during a new moon keeps the skies extra inky. That means, without bright moonlight, you can peer deep into the heavens to spot galaxies, nebulae, and the core of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.