The starry sky in March 2025
Due to the ever-later sunsets, the observatory only opens on Friday evenings in March from 7 pm. Provided the night sky is clear, of course.
Sun and moon
March has some astronomical highlights in store for us, including a partial lunar eclipse in our latitudes in the morning hours of March 14.
Entry into the penumbra occurs at 4:56 a.m., but is difficult to observe due to the small difference in brightness. The beginning of the partial phase is much more visible at 6:09 a.m. - at this time, however, the moon is only just under 6 degrees above the western horizon. In Zweibrücken, it sets at 6:55 am, while the total eclipse would not begin until 7:26 am.
Animation from the observatory hill.
Created with Stellarium 23.3
On Saturday, March 29, there will be a partial solar eclipse that will be visible for its entire duration.
To mark the occasion, the observatory will open at 10 a.m. on this day if the sky is clear. In Zweibrücken, the partial phase begins at 11:18 and ends at 12:59.
The following animation of the course of the solar eclipse was also created with Stellarium 23.3
Planets
Mercury offers passable visibility in the western evening sky in the first half of the month despite its perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on March 4.
Venus has had its best time as an evening star. It will remain visible until mid-March, possibly until the 20th of the month with bright optics. Towards the end of the month, it already appears in the morning sky.
Mars loses significantly in brightness over the course of the month, but remains high in the evening sky. A slight decrease in its brightness can be seen in the telescope due to the phase of solar illumination - by the end of the month it will shrink to around 90 % relative to its opposition position in January. Like the Moon, Mars also shows phases as we observe it from different angles from Earth. However, these phases are much less pronounced for Mars than for the Moon or inner planets such as Venus and Mercury.
Jupiter dominates the first half of the night and remains a conspicuous companion in the night sky.
Saturn is in the daytime sky together with the sun, it can no longer be observed.
Uranus and Neptune no longer play a significant role for observations. Uranus shortens its evening visibility considerably, while Neptune stays in the daytime sky and remains invisible.
Starry sky
The twinkling stars of the winter sky have already moved far beyond sunset. West but still remain striking eye-catchers in the night sky. At the same time, the transition to the spring sky is in full swing.
A look at North shows the circumpolar constellations that are visible all year round. High in the north-east is the Great Bear with the well-known constellation of the Big Dipper. Nearby is the Little Bear with the Pole Star, around which the inconspicuous constellation of the Dragon meanders. Cassiopeia and Cepheus can be seen in the northwest. A bright star can be observed from an elevated position just above the horizon: Deneb, the main star of the summer constellation Swan.
On Western sky you can still see some autumn constellations after sunset, including Andromeda.
In the South dominated by the impressive winter hexagon with its striking winter constellations: Gemini, Auriga and Taurus. Particularly striking in Taurus is the reddish Aldebaran, the "Eye of Taurus", which is sometimes mistaken for Mars. Among the Inuit, Aldebaran is called Nanurjuk and symbolizes a polar bear that was set upon by a group of dogs - represented by the Hyades, an open star cluster. In Inuit mythology, the hunters who want to hunt down the polar bear are the three prominent belt stars of Orion and the bright Rigel. Orion is also seen as a sky hunter in Greek mythology, followed by the constellations of the Great and Little Dog, the latter with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. The most prominent object in Orion is the well-known Orion Nebula, an active star-forming region. Some of its young stars, including the Trapezium stars, reach surface temperatures of around 50,000 Kelvin.
On Eastern sky the spring constellation of Leo gradually rises, followed by Virgo in the second half of the night. However, these constellations only unfold their full splendor in spring.
The following graphic shows the view of the sky on March 15 at 10 pm.
