What can you see in the night sky tonight? Find out what’s on view in our monthly stargazing guide.
What’s in the night sky tonight?
Those of us who enjoy stargazing and observing the night sky can’t always plan when and where we’re going to get the chance to gaze upwards.
Busy schedules, light pollution, the weather: sometimes finding even just 30 minutes to stand and stare up at a clear, dark night sky and take in the planets, stars and constellations can be a feat in itself.
So when you do find the time, you’ll need to know what’s visible in the night sky tonight, and the best things to look out for when stargazing.
Complete newcomer? Read our guides to the best telescopes for beginners and astronomy for beginners.
Here’s our stargazing guide to what you can see in the night sky tonight.
Our guide is centred around what’s visible from the UK, but all northern hemisphere observers should be able to use it, with the odd adjustment to stated times.
In our guide, we use Universal Time (UT) and British Summer Time (BST). UT is the standard time used by astronomers around the world. BST is one hour ahead of UT
We also use RA (Right ascension)and dec. (declination).
These coordinates are the night sky’s equivalent of longitude and latitude, describing where an object is on the celestial ‘globe’.
For help with these, read our guide to celestial coordinates.
For more advice, read our guide on how to stargaze or sign up to receive the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter for weekly tips delivered directly to your email inbox.
If you’re south of the equator, find out what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight.
What’s in the night sky tonight?
March astronomy highlights
- 2 March: Minor planet 3 Juno reaches opposition
- 13 March: Jupiter lies near a waxing crescent Moon (pm)
- 14 March: Waxing crescent Moon lies near the Pleiades (pm)
- 26 March: Spica lies very close to the Moon (pm)
- 29-31 March: C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS crosses the Coathanger Cluster
The Northern Hemisphere’s spring, or vernal, equinox occurs on 20 March, marking the transition of the Sun’s northward movement across the celestial equator.
Jupiter and Uranus struggle this month as the evening twilight expands to envelop them.
Coupled with a shallow ecliptic angle in the morning sky, this is a poor month for the main planets.
Not so minor planet 3 Juno which reaches opposition on 2 March, shining around ninth magnitude in the southern part of Leo, the Lion.
Comets
Comets remain interesting during March, and there are a number of bright comets in 2024 that beg to be observed.
C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS moves into a more favourable position and shines bright enough to be seen with binoculars.
Both 62P/Tsuchinshan 1 and 144P/Kushida are expected to be brighter than 10th magnitude, and comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is predicted to brighten from 13th to 12th magnitude.
The Moon
When the Moon is full and near perigee, the point in its orbit closest to Earth, great fuss is made of what’s been coined a ‘Supermoon’ in popular culture.
A fortnight later, the 25 March full Moon is close to lunar apogee which occurs on 23 March, the point when the Moon is furthest from Earth.
This has an unofficial name too, known as a ‘Micromoon’.
The Moon will be undergoing a weak penumbral eclipse on the morning of 25 March from 04:53 UT until moonset.
Stars and constellations
Orion, the Hunter struggles to hang on throughout March, its westward drift dragging the Hunter towards the expanding evening twilight.
Draw a line from Rigel through Betelgeuse and keep it going for almost twice that distance to arrive at Castor and Pollux, Alpha (α) and Beta (β) Geminorum.
These represent the heads of the Twins of Gemini.
Castor is interesting as it’s a sextuplet star system: six stars in mutual orbit.
Through a telescope under 200x or higher magnification, the main components appear as two white stars of mag. 1.9 and 2.9, separated by 4.4-arcseconds.
Almost overhead early evening you’ll find the easy to recognise Plough or Saucepan asterism.
Identify the pan and extend the line of the side nearest the handle down and away from the handle.
Eventually, you’ll arrive at bright Regulus (Alpha (α) Leonis) in Leo, the Lion, easy to confirm as this star sits at the southern end of a backward question mark pattern, known as the Sickle.
Draw a line from Regulus to the northern Twin star Castor and, using binoculars, look at the position slightly south of the mid-point of this line.
Here you’ll find the fantastic sight of M44, the Beehive Cluster in the heart of Cancer, the Crab.
The Crab appears as a faint, inverted ‘Y’.
Locate the star marking the southeast point of this pattern, Acubens (Alpha (α) Cancri), and less than half an average binocular field of view to the west of it you’ll find the much fainter M67 open cluster, best seen through a telescope.
Night sky in March 2024, night-by-night
Friday 1 March
Bright Venus appears very close to Mars this morning, but the mag. +1.3 Red Planet is rapidly lost to the brightening dawn sky.
Saturday 2 March
Minor planet 3 Juno reaches opposition today, when it can be found shining at mag. +8.6 against the stars of Leo.
Sunday 3 March
This morning’s last quarter Moon sits immediately west of M4 and 1.9° west of Antares (Alpha (α) Scorpii).
Sunday 10 March
The Moon reaches perigee at 07:07 UT, a couple of hours prior to new Moon at 09:03 UT. According to the ‘official’ definition, this counts as a new supermoon, although you won’t be able to see it.
Monday 11 March
This evening’s 2%-lit waxing crescent Moon sits 7.5° east-northeast from mag. –1.2 Mercury, both visible 30 minutes after sunset, very low above the western horizon.
Wednesday 13 March
See the 16%-lit waxing crescent Moon 3° northwest of Jupiter as both objects approach the west-northwestern horizon this evening around 22:30 UT.
Thursday 14 March
Catch this evening’s 26%-lit waxing crescent Moon around 23:40 UT and look out for the Pleiades open cluster located 3.2° to the northeast.
Saturday 16 March
Look directly above this evening’s 46%-lit waxing crescent Moon and see whether you can spot mag. +1.6 Elnath (Beta (β) Tauri) immediately north of it around 21:20 UT.
Sunday 17 March
Four popular clair-obscur effects are visible today: the Lunar X and V, optimal at 14:21 UT in daylight; the Face in Albategnius, best seen around 22:15 UT; and Nessie in the crater Ptolemaeus is visible around midnight.
Monday 18 March
The clair-obscur effect known as the Eyes of Clavius is visible around 19:50 UT.
Wednesday 20 March
The Northern’s Hemisphere’s vernal equinox occurs today, the centre of the Sun’s disc moving south to north across the celestial equator at 03:06 UT.
Friday 22 March
Venus is 27 arcminutes from Saturn at 06:00 UT as they rise above the east-southeastern horizon. Mag. –3.8 Venus should be visible, but at mag. +0.8 and against the bright dawn twilight, Saturn will be tricky.
Saturday 23 March
See this evening’s 98%-lit waxing gibbous Moon occult mag. +4.0 Sigma (σ) Leonis at around 21:00 UT.
Sunday 24 March
Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation, appearing separated from the Sun by 18.7° in the evening sky. The mag. –0.1 planet sets nearly two hours after the Sun.
Monday 25 March
This morning’s full Moon experiences a penumbral lunar eclipse. This is not well presented for UK observers, who only get the start of an already difficult-to-see event, just before the Moon sets below the horizon.
Tuesday 26 March
As the just past full Moon rises this evening, around 20:30 UT, look out for mag. +1.0 Spica (Alpha (α) Virginis) very close to it.
Friday 29 March
The eighth-magnitude comet C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS crosses the Coathanger Cluster (Collinder 399) from today through to 31 March.