Actual Astronomy - The Observer's Calendar for March 2026

It's the 365 days of Astronomy Podcast coming in three, two, one.

The Observer's Calendar for March 2026 on Episode 524 of the Actual Astronomy Podcast.

We are Amateur Astronomers. We love looking up the night sky on this podcast for everybody who enjoys going out under the stars.

So we are getting into March. If you can believe it.

Yeah, it's flying by. In fact, my wife and I were talking about winter last night.

December, January or kind of the hard ones to get through here.

I feel like once you get past that, you blink a few times and it's spring.

So we're getting close. This recent blast of warm weather has been quite enjoyable.

It looks like we're getting back to seasonal temperatures, which would mean, I don't know, time highs of minus 10 to minus 15 probably.

And some snow. So winter is not over yet. It's start to see the finish line.

Yeah, it is. It has been a nice about two week reprieve from what we consider a real hardcore winter here and it was like minus 40 something.

And then we've had daytime highs above the melting point just for every day here for about two weeks almost.

Yeah, a lot of the snow has disappeared like, you know, there's still snow, but yeah, we lost a lot of it, which is kind of nice.

There's always the risk of spring flooding. So a gradual melt is always preferred.

Yeah, yeah, but still a little bit more snow out here in the valley.

So we're losing it. We lost enough are the keys that had gone missing.

Finally made it to the surface. So they those have been retrieved. So that's been good.

And then there's enough melt around that you can kind of start to navigate away around a little bit easier.

But I bet sure there's still 18 inches of snow over most of the little tiny front yard we have here.

Okay.

But yeah, probably another cool down here for a couple weeks.

And then hopefully that next warm up will will sort of do the trick because we'll be getting into some longer nights.

Or longer days, sadly, shorter nights. But you know, I think the real tough part about the past couple months before the warm up was just how cloudy it was because it was just pretty much cloudy every day, except for the absolute extreme coldest days, I think.

Yeah, and you know, we had some clear daytime hours, but then it seemed to cloud up every night.

So just really difficult to do any nighttime observing.

Yeah, I mean, even when it was, I mean, there was some sun, but I wouldn't really say it was it's clear.

It was clear like it's sort of clear now where you would necessarily wouldn't go observing.

And anyway, yeah, was that was kind of a rough rough time.

So hopefully the next two weeks will be the last blast of winter and will be back to it.

Let's see, just start with a comment here. I'm going to mix things up.

I put a comment here at the start of the podcast shame because it is visible towards the end of Feb.

And I'm not sure how bright this one is is going to get, but it's in the sixth to seventh magnitude range.

Apparently, coming up here in a couple of weeks.

So this is comment C slash 2024 E1.

Wears chose W I E R Z C H O S.

And by the end of Feb, it's going to be in about the mid sixth magnitude.

And then start of March, it's going to be in the seventh magnitude.

So depending on when this comes out, we, you know, we can possibly look forward to that.

It's a little bit far down.

It's going to be cutting through sort of, I think, Canvas major kind of area of thumb.

If I'm reading my chart correctly, no, sorry, set us.

But it is very far into the end of the Southwest here in the coming up in the evening.

It kind of rises out of the Southwest and then cuts across foreign acts.

For us, it's going to be real low.

But if you're much further south, you know, if you're getting into the Southern US states,

where we had lots of listeners and California and Arizona and over into Florida,

I mean, it could be pretty good here over the next month.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's a good call out.

Definitely would love to hear anybody's observing reports of this one just to see how it looks through a telescope.

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll be able to observe it, but I like to live vicariously through others.

Yeah, yeah, I think I'll be able to get it when it gets to about seventh magnitude,

but into the new moon period in March.

But yeah, it's pretty low there for a while.

So it's going to be below the wall of my observatory.

March 1st, we get through 1183 in Monoceros, which is a beautiful colorful double star there,

well placed in the evening sky for folks that are heading down some of these double stars, Shane.

Yeah, I've looked at that one. It's quite beautiful.

Anytime you get color and stars, it really, in my mind, just makes the system a lot more enjoyable.

And kind of almost makes it like a must-see target too, because a lot of these doubles are two white stars,

which I still enjoy, but the colorful ones just add a whole other element.

Yeah.

And let's see, last minute, sir, for a second.

Regulus and the moon pair up on March 2nd, but for us, they're, they stay pretty far apart.

I think for some folks further east, you know, if you're sort of on the eastern seaboard of the US and Canada,

you're looking at about a half degree between Regulus and the moon.

And that's a very, very nice pairing, but for us, it's like seven degrees apart, so no joy there.

Where we do get some joy is on the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 3rd.

That's when we have our full moon and also a lunar eclipse for Western North America,

5.30 a.m. ish, you're seeing for the peak of that.

Oh, okay.

Okay. Are you waking up early for that, Chris?

I think I shall.

I think I think I'll be out here and I think I'll try running, hopefully by March 3rd.

We are into some warmer weather.

And yeah, I really enjoy looking at lunar eclipses and I should look to look at one through my seven-inch refractor.

I think that would be a lot of fun.

Yeah, they're always interesting just to see how red the moon gets while eclipsed.

Yeah, they're a neat event.

Yeah, Tuesdays are busy at work.

So that could be a rough day.

So we'll see if we need to take an hour off at the start and end of day or something like that.

So at some point I'm going to have to, because I switched jobs there about

last year.

I mean, it's been almost a year and a half.

But at some point I get to tell my boss why I take all these weird hours.

He's like, why do you want to take like an hour off in the morning and an hour off in the afternoon?

I'm like, it makes a lot more sense if you know that I'm running right and I'm trying to do all this stuff.

All right.

I know we can be so strange.

Five links is another colorful double star up there in Zenith on these Chris late winter evening scene.

Not sure.

Have you ever seen that one?

I mean, I've heard the ever observed in links.

There's a few things in there like I can't remember like the intergalactic wander or something up there in links or something like that.

I don't know while you're like, you can keep going here.

And what I'm going to do is just pull up the RAC double star observing list to see if it's on Blake's list.

It would have been through there.

I think so.

Yeah, it should be.

I think that's where Marie was pulling most of these from.

As we get into the new moon on the first, you know, sort of as the moon,

wings during the first week of March, you can start to see that zodiac light visible in the western sky as it's getting dark.

What that looks like is a sort of pyramid on a bit of an angle depending on your latitude.

And then tends to point kind of sorted towards the plighties.

And really, it almost looks like light pollution, but it's, but it's not light pollution.

What you're looking at is interplanetary dust that's spread throughout our solar system.

And they found that much of that has come from the planet Mars.

Yeah, yeah, it's pretty neat on March.

Oh, go ahead.

I'm just going to say it looks like that links five is not on Blake's list.

Yes, three stars from links 19 links, alpha links and then HD 75353.

So I don't unless that HD one also is links five.

It could be I find like with the I get a chat with Maria, but her list and see,

because sometimes she's using strew numbers and sometimes she's using other numbers.

I think we should try to harmonize it.

I don't know what the worst is, but you get them all pulling the same way,

because one time she refers to something as Iota, but anyway, and then five.

And then we're talking to it's true.

So it gets a little bit a little bit confusing, but people can people can follow on.

Hey, March 7th, we get the brightest long period variable star Mira at its maximum over in set us.

What is that?

What is the period of Mira anyway?

I'm not sure.

You know, if there's a gap in my observing, it definitely is variable stars.

You know, I've looked at them kind of briefly when one was getting quite bright,

but I've never really gone back and have watched a variable go through its cycle of brightening

and then losing some of that luminance.

Yeah, so Mira, which is also a micron set eye.

And that's in the southwestern sky.

I don't need a star chart or something or planetarium software to see that.

You know, and I'm always thinking most people are going to be using planetarium software

of some sort by now, seeing they can just look it up.

But it's got a period of three hundred and thirty two days.

And it's the prototype oddly enough of Mira variable type stars.

And it varies between magnitude two.

So pretty bright visible from the city and a minimum of a little bit fainter than 10th magnitude.

So something that you would definitely need.

Binoculars or a little telescope to actually be able to hunt down.

Yeah, absolutely.

So there's one for you.

What's next?

Carbon star y-hydra or y-hydray is at its best on the seventh as well.

And that's red at the meridian.

Not very high.

It looks like it's about maybe twelve or fifteen degrees up for us here, shame.

But still should be quite visible.

Really like those carbon stars.

I could have tried hunting down some more of these.

Again, I've hunted down quite a few of them in the past.

And there always really nice to see one of the reasons why I was excited when Marie decided to put these in the calendar

was that I'd be able to kind of know when they were going to be at their brightest and best.

Because that's always been my problem with them grades.

So a mode observing on this particular night or that particular night.

But when are the nights to go and take a look at these carbon stars?

Because when you catch them, when they're well visible, they're awesome.

But otherwise you kind of just sort of they look just like a background star basically.

Yeah, exactly.

March 8th, we have daylight savings time beginning at 3 a.m.

For those who celebrate it, we do not hear.

No, and I love that.

I love it too.

You don't have to change your clocks.

You don't have to either show up to work early or late depending on what part of the year you're changing.

So yeah, I do appreciate that.

Oh, and let me tell you, you've always grown out.

I mean, have they always not had it here?

Yeah, correct.

I've never really experienced the other side to know the true pain.

It's terrible.

It's like taking a flight, but not getting any enjoyment and having to go to work that night.

It just doesn't even make any sense in this day and age.

And the weird part is is that they always like blame it on the farmers.

And then could there be a more farming centric place than Saskatchewan?

I don't think so.

Yeah, no kidding.

So it just doesn't, it doesn't, that doesn't hold water.

And yeah, I remember that first year we lived here not having to do that.

And it's it.

I don't know.

It's just such a relief.

And also, I don't know whether it's our longitude or what.

It just seems to work pretty good here not to have to do it.

And then a few years after we moved here, we went up to Edmonton around the solstice, summer solstice.

And it just never got dark.

And I was like, this is horrible.

It was like full on pretty much daylight until like 11 or midnight.

It was just, it just threw me right out of wax.

I was really glad that we don't spring ahead here in spring.

It would just be terrible.

I think he'd be so rough to try to observe.

Yes, agreed.

March 9th.

And really for the month.

And you know, last month, I took the Messier's out of the calendar.

And then this month, I thought, I'm going to put them back in because maybe not everybody is keen to listen to our series that we have going on on the Messier's.

And then some of these are slightly in a slightly different order than in our Messier month that we've been doing each month for the past couple of months and hope to do for us the year.

But M67 and M44 are well placed in March up in cancer for those who want to go and take a look.

These are two of my favorite open clusters.

I mean, they are very bright M44.

I mean, pray a step or the manger, I think.

That was one of like the OG deep sky objects.

I think it was listed in Tony's Elma Jast and you know, ancient Greek or Roman detective poem.

I mean, it goes way back.

I think Aristotle wrote about it.

And then M67 is quite a bit fainter, so you can't see it with the eye.

Of course, all those folks are looking at it way back when we're looking before the telescope.

But M67 is just below it up in cancer, but still they look remarkable in binoculars.

I think two of the great binocular open clusters in the night sky.

And especially at this time of year, when it can be hard to get the telescope out.

If there's snow on your ground or ice or mud, like we have and we'll probably have here around that time.

Those are great objects to look at.

Yeah, absolutely.

I've sketched those naked eye, binoculars and telescope.

I don't know where the sketches are, but.

March 10th, Antares is 0.7 degrees north of the moon and we get this when it's in the morning sky.

With my software, it didn't look like it was as close as 0.7.

It looked like it was like about a degree and a half at its closest, but regardless.

I think catching that one in the morning sky on the 10th would be quite lovely again.

I think that is a Tuesday morning.

So for those that are able to get up and get out in the early morning hours with your binoculars, that would be a great sight.

Yeah, I love the color contrast.

You know, you have the icy gray moon and red Antares, nice and close.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's why we highlight when the moon is going by stars.

Because just as you said, Shane, when you have that contrast between those dark grayish colors, black colors, even of the moon, then a star that's very bright nearby.

The colors in that star are well contrasted in a very, very surprising way.

If you look at the star without the contrast of the moon nearby, sometimes those colors can be quite subtle.

But when you do look at them together like that and binoculars or a small telescope, those colors just pop.

Like it really is quite unbelievable.

Yeah, it makes a huge difference.

You really need like something to compare and contrast this to really make it more vibrant.

And that's why double stars, when you have two stars that are different color, it really becomes more noticeable.

And yeah, anytime you have close pairings like that, it's a fun observation.

Yeah. And March 11th, we have the last quarter moon.

And that's when it's sort of around the midnight hour, once the moon is past that last quarter.

For the next two weeks, you'll have the opportunity to see the gigantine high in the south at midnight.

It's not overhead. It's just very high in the south, which is a bright spot.

It's the anti-solar point. So I believe what it is is that it's like the sun kind of coming around the earth and then hitting the point in the sky opposite it.

Two shadows are also visible on Jupiter.

I put the 11th and 12th. It's below our horizon here. So it's going to vary depending on your location.

But we don't get it here. These shadow transits are below the horizon for us sadly.

NGC 2683 is a nice galaxy that's well placed. So that evening, if you want to go out and take a look at a really bright NGC galaxy.

That would be nice in a telescope. Yeah, for sure.

And then another one that's also visible nearby is NGC2775.

They're not in the same field of view. They're sort of an opposite sides of cancer.

But you could sort of almost make a night of some of the observing we've got sketched it for you here.

Show notes will be on the website. I hope 100% the actual astronomy dot com.

We will have all of these details posted there.

Add free license for you. You can do it. You want with them, folks? There you go.

March 12th, we have the Lunar X Curtis X visible.

So people can try to take a look at that. Now they're one of those.

They're like a bit of a, it's not an illusion.

It's, it's just the way that the light gets cast upon certain craters.

And when the angle is right between the earth and the moon and the sun,

then you can see these X type features. But really what you're seeing is just a crater or two that have the right angle of the sun on them.

And it appears to be an X from our vantage point here on earth.

In March, M93, they are down in Puppas is also well placed.

Just sort of, I think it's just over the Cannes major Puppas border.

But that's such a beautiful open cluster. I forgot to look at it the other night when I was just out with my binoculars, but headmen too.

Wait, lovely. And also around mid-month M46 and M47, they are well placed on the Meridian as it's just after it gets dark.

So again, a couple well placed messias in Northern Puppas.

So this one, this comet, 29P, Shwazman, Watchman, I see it coming up as Magneto 15,

which is really too faint to see with most telescope shame.

But I think there's a chance this one could, could brighten as it's coming up into our morning sky.

Okay.

So I put a binder for this.

Well, I don't know exactly what the forecast is, but this was one of Marie's picks.

But I'm not sure we're still too far ahead of ourselves here to get too much into forecasting for March.

But that is one of the ones that might brighten up and people can kind of keep an eye out for that.

Okay.

I think it just has in the past. I think I've even seen this comet before.

And certainly if it was 15th magnitude, I wouldn't have seen it.

So I think it's one of those ones that kind of brightens as it comes in.

March 15th, mid-month, you can try spotting Capella, which is the brightest star in Ariga,

with the unated eye before sunset.

That week it's nice and far from the sun.

You didn't want to look anywhere near the sun.

So kind of sort of figure out where that is in the sky and put your back to the sun,

I think, and then kind of cast your glance up towards it.

Because it is going to be quite some distance.

So no, we're near the sun and ends up being in a bit of a darker spot in the sky.

I think because of that.

NGCE at 24477.

This is another open cluster in Puppas and put this one in because it just barely clears our horizon.

I don't think I'll be able to see it.

But I haven't seen this from far southern latitude.

And that is a fantastic open cluster, especially if you're down in the southern US.

Great one. Go take a look at it.

Yeah, that is quite low for us.

But anybody south of 50 degrees, it just gets better.

The further south you will be.

So yeah.

Yeah, I think once you're down to anywhere in the states really,

then yeah, it's going to be about five or six degrees up.

And it's a pretty bright one.

I forget the magnitude didn't put that in.

March 18th, we have new moons.

So great time to start getting an observing.

Hopefully by the 18th of March, just some pretty nice weather.

I'm hoping fingers crossed.

Yeah, me too.

On the 19th, we have young Crescent Moon in the west after sunset.

And on the 20th, we have the spring equinox.

And on that night, good thing to go take a look at is the carbon star V Afiyuki,

which is best in the pre-don skies.

I have seen this carbon star.

This is a great one just off of, I think, its Zeta Afiyuki.

And really maybe about like 15 or 16 degrees do straight up from Antares when it's near the meridian.

March 21st, we have Asteroid 20 Missalia at opposition magnitude is 8.9.

And this is a stony asteroid of the Missalia family.

Strangely enough, located in the inner region of the Asteroid belt.

It's about 90 miles in diameter and discovered by Italian astronomer Annabelle de Gaspari on 19th September 1852

and named for the city of Marsai in France.

On the 25th, we have the first quarter moon lunar X.

Near the crater Warner is visible.

That night seems sort of thing as the other lunar X we chatted on.

And the lunar straight wall, both those visible in the same night.

Not sure if I've seen those on the same night before.

Yeah, that's interesting.

And I think odd at the same time.

I didn't know that.

Yeah, visible in the same night.

Usually it's one night than the other.

So what I'm guessing is a camera which is first I'm guessing one is sort of a very early morning and one sort of a very late evening kind of thing.

I'm guessing.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah, because usually it's one night than the other.

But I guess it is possible.

There we go.

Asteroid 15, you know, Mia is that opposition that's a large asteroid in the middle of the asteroid belt.

Stoney discovery in 1851, a game by de Gaspari and named after the Greek goddess of law and order.

I guess is the best way to put it.

March 26th, we have Jupiter four degrees south of the moon.

And I think we do get that one here.

So that should be a nice one.

And on the 27th, the long ago, Montana's ray is visible.

And I'm going to put a little finer chart in for that.

He hadn't seen hadn't gone to see this one before.

But I think I may have seen this one before.

There's some beautiful rays.

And these regime correct me from on.

But essentially what we're looking at is the ejectus scatter from ancient asteroid and meteor impacts on to the lunar regolith or something like that, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Like those would have been massive impacts and would have been like unbelievable to see something like that.

But yeah, major impact that left behind some scars.

And then as that material comes down, it forms like these bands.

It's screwed out across the lunar surface.

I'm going to need to hunt down and take a look.

I cancry is a beautiful color.

Double in cancer again, another cancer object there.

So had a whole pile of cancer and puppet subjects there.

People can have a nice view.

March 28th, the jeweled handle is visible on the moon.

And I think what we're looking at there is one of the mountain ranges in the upper right quadrant of the moon when you look at it.

I've seen that one before quite lovely.

Is it cuts around one of the giant maria bays? Very beautiful.

Last thing on the 29th, we have regoliths, four degrees south of the moon.

So that could be a good one.

I didn't actually look that one up to see how visible it was here.

But I think that one is reasonably close for us. So should be good.

I'm going to look up and see if we have any comments for March 2026.

So I know there's some coming up for the month of April.

But I don't know.

OK, we're seeing there's a sun grazer comment.

Yeah.

See 2026 A1, may have you heard or seen of this one?

No, I have not.

Just trying to get all these ads on sky and telescope, which is kind of annoying.

Because I'm a subscriber.

Let's see.

9817.

That's pretty faint.

But I wonder if it will.

If it will brighten up old people can maybe try to take a look at that.

It's going to be on the arid anus for next border as well.

So yeah, that one is looking kind of faint.

But as we get into that month, people can try to go and take a peek out there.

Really give me a lot of ads there.

But you know, I don't know.

All right.

Anything that we that you want to add to the things you can look up and see in the March sky here.

Is that kind of wander through a few comments?

No, no, I think that's a really good list, Chris.

And like we said, it'll be posted on actualestronomy.com for reference.

Yeah.

And then we have, let's see our three pan stars is coming along.

But that's going to be in April.

Shane.

So yeah.

And the only other one I saw was the 2024 E1 Wears Choss.

Or however you say it that we talked about at the start of the podcast.

That's that's the other one that seems like it could be a good hit.

And I'll tell you if it is like into the seventh or round seventh magnitude as it comes up.

Better the southwest and reason behind the sky.

I mean, that would be worthwhile.

Take a look at a seven men to comment is still an ex binocular comment.

Yeah, that's quite bright.

You know, there's many comments that never get into that range.

So definitely makes it a priority object if it gets there.

Cool.

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