Star Charts

After Sunset

This is your last chance to glimpse Venus in the evening sky for a while. It appears low in the west at sunset, but will soon be lost in the Sun’s twilight glow as the planet sets earlier each night. It will be vanish by the middle of the month, returning to pre-dawn skies as April begins.

Look high in the west for mighty Jupiter. Whenever Jupiter is visible it’s always a great target for backyard telescopes. You’ll not only see the four largest moons of Jupiter, but also the giant planet’s cloud bands. Jupiter has stripes!

Then look high overhead to find Mars, with its distinctive red color. Don’t confuse it with the red stars you might find in the winter sky. The best way to tell the difference? Stars twinkle, planets usually don’t.

Look for an extremely thin crescent Moon near Venus on March 1. Keep watching as the Moon passes near Jupiter on the 5th, and very near Mars on the 8th.

Want a planetary challenge? Elusive Mercury makes a brief appearance very low in the west for a few days between the 6th and 12th. Look for it below and to the left of Venus through the 11th, and then immediately to the left of Venus on the 12th. You'll need a low, clear horizon to the west. Any trees, hills, or buildings may block your view. Mercury will quickly fade back into the sunset glow after the 12th.

The Big Dipper starts the evening low in the northeast, but will be high enough to easily see by 8 or 9 pm. Use the two stars at the end of the bowl of the Dipper to point you to Polaris, also known as the North Star. When you face Polaris, you’re facing due north.

Polaris is not a particularly bright star, but it does remain fixed in the sky throughout the night and throughout the year. Polaris is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. This group of stars is officially known as Ursa Minor the Little Bear. The Big Dipper itself is part of the official constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear.

While you’re facing north, look for a group of five stars known as Cassiopeia the Queen. This group of stars can also help you find the North Star. The central peak of Cassiopeia’s W-shape also points you in the direction of Polaris.

High in the south you can find the bright stars of the winter evening sky. The most famous and easily found constellation is Orion the Hunter. Look for the three stars in a straight line that mark his belt, the two stars that mark his shoulders, and the two stars of his feet. Betelgeuse, one of his shoulder stars, is distinctly red in color.

Learn to find Orion, and he can direct you to many other sights of the winter sky. Follow the belt stars up and to the right to find a “V”-shaped group of stars. At one end of the V-shape is a bright orange-red star called Aldebaran. The rest of the stars are part of a cluster called the Hyades. Aldebaran is not part of the Hyades itself. It just happens to sit in front of the star cluster, lining up in just the right spot. Together, Aldebaran and the Hyades mark the face of Taurus the Bull.

Look just past Aldebaran and you may see a grouping of stars called M-45, or the Pleiades Star Cluster. While your eyes alone may just see six or seven stars in this cluster, a pair of binoculars will reveal dozens of stars.

Follow Orion’s belt down and to the left for the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, in Canis Major the Big Dog.

Draw a line from Orion’s blue-colored foot Rigel up through Betelgeuse, and keep on going until you run into Gemini the Twins. The bright stars Castor and Pollux mark the heads of the twins. Under dark skies you may just be able to pick out two stick-figure bodies leading back towards Orion.

Rising in the east is our first early-evening glimpse of the spring constellation Leo the Lion. The bright star Regulus marks the regal heart of the lion.

Other bright stars to look for this month are Capella in Auriga the Charioteer, and Procyon in Canis Minor the Small Dog.

From Dark Skies

Bright outdoor lighting can make it hard to see all but the brightest stars. On a clear night, find a dark spot far away from city lights, give your eyes time to adjust to the dark, and look for even more celestial sights. You can begin by looking for the fainter stars of the season’s constellations. The faint stars of Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Perseus become easier to spot.

Even under dark skies, the stars of Cancer the Crab can be a challenge to see. Look for a faint upside-down Y shape of stars between Leo and Gemini. Near the center point of the Y is M-44, the Beehive Cluster, a pretty star cluster best seen with binoculars or a small telescope.

Winter evenings are great for spotting the Milky Way, coursing from the south, high overhead through Cassiopeia, and on towards the northwest horizon.

Just beneath the belt of Orion is a faint patch of light that marks the hunter’s sword. This is M-42, the Great Orion Nebula. A small telescope can reveal the overall shape of the nebula. A quartet of young stars near the center is called the Trapezium. These stars formed out of the gas and dust of the nebula.

Early Morning

Throughout the year, the constellations rise and set just a little bit earlier every day. You won’t see much difference from night to night, but you will over the course of weeks or months. What we see in today’s pre-dawn sky is a preview of the early evening sky in later months. Go out before dawn this month for a look ahead at the spring night sky.

Compare the locations of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia from where you saw them in the early evening. These two star pictures stay on nearly opposite sides of Polaris so that as one is high in the sky, the other dips low to the northern horizon.

Just before dawn, our winter constellations have set in the west. The Big Dipper is now nearly straight overhead. You can use the Big Dipper to help you find Leo the Lion: just imagine poking a hole in the bottom of the bowl. The water drips out on to the lion’s back!

Total Lunar Eclipse: March 14, 2025

Just after midnight Central Time on the morning of Friday March 14, 2025, the Moon will turn a dramatic red color, during a total lunar eclipse. If the weather is clear, it’ll be something worth setting an alarm for!

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon moves through Earth’s shadow. During a total lunar eclipse, direct sunlight is completely blocked from the face of the Moon.

The eclipse will last several hours. As the eclipse progresses, you’ll see Earth’s shadow gradually move across the Moon’s surface. As totality begins, the Moon will appear to change color to a coppery orange or deep red. This is caused by sunlight scattered through Earth’s atmosphere onto the lunar surface. The color can be affected by atmospheric conditions such as recent volcanic eruptions on Earth. After totality ends, the Moon will gradually move out of Earth’s shadow.

Lunar eclipses can only occur during a Full Moon, when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon. They don’t happen at every Full Moon, because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is tilted by a few degrees. That means that Earth’s shadow usually passes a little above or below the Moon. Only once in a while does Earth’s shadow directly fall on the lunar surface. The last total lunar eclipse visible from Nashville was May 16, 2022. Nashville will see another early morning total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026, and a partial lunar eclipse the following August. For this eclipse, totality will be visible for everyone in North and South America.

Lunar eclipses are perfectly safe to view, and you don’t need any special equipment. All you really need to enjoy a lunar eclipse are your eyes and clear weather. You don’t even have to watch the whole thing. Just go out and take a look, even if just for a few minutes at a time. Just don’t miss totality!

While you wait for the eclipse to progress, there will be plenty of other night sky sights to enjoy. This star chart is focused on early evening skies, but the night sky after midnight will look quite different! Before you go out, consider planning your observing. Desktop planetarium software like the free, open-source Stellarium can show you more precisely where night sky objects can be found on any date and time, and help you prepare. Don’t forget to check the weather forecast.

Please note: You may see references to this eclipse starting at 10:57 pm Central Time on March 13. This is the beginning of the penumbral eclipse, which is when the very faint outer shadow of the Earth begins to fall on the Moon. The penumbral part of the eclipse is barely noticeable at all. The darker, easily visible umbral eclipse begins to cross the Moon’s face at 12:09 am CDT.