Night Sky Highlights for January-March 2025
By Jim Mazur
Solar System
Total Lunar Eclipse
Saturday, March 14, early morning
This should be a nice lunar eclipse, but you will have to get up early (or stay up all night) to see it. The penumbral phase begins just before midnight on the 13th. Other times are as follows:
Partial phase begins: 1:09 am
Maximum eclipse: 2:58 am
Partial phase ends: 4:47 am
Partial Solar Eclipse
Saturday, March 29
When the Sun rises this morning, the eclipse will be its maximum, with slightly less than half the Sun covered by the Moon. It all ends about half an hour later.
Sunrise: 6:36 am
Maximum eclipse: 6:39 am
Eclipse ends: 7:06 am
Mercury
Mercury will make an appearance in the western sky right after sunset from the last week of February through mid-March. It will be about 5 degrees to the left of Venus on the evenings of March 12-14, which can help you to locate it.
Venus
Bright Venus will be visible in the western sky after sunset through about mid-March., easily visible even bright twilight. Through a telescope, its disk will show dramatic changes during the winter. It will be about half lit at the beginning of January, and change to a thin crescent (nearly 3 times larger in apparent size) in the middle of March.
Mars
Mars will be visible in the evening, traveling through Cancer and Gemini. Its reddish disk will be largest in the beginning of January (about 14″) and shrink to about 9″ at the end of March. (For comparison, the apparent size of Jupiter will be about 40″-45″ during this time.)
Jupiter
Jupiter, in Taurus near the Hyades cluster, will be visible in the evening sky throughout the winter months.
Saturn
Saturn is in Aquarius, and it will be visible in the west right after sunset in January and February. Its rings will be almost edge-on. It will be just 2 or 3 degrees to the left of Venus on February 17 and 18. In a medium-sized telescope, a few of its brighter moons should be visible nearby, especially Titan at magnitude 8.9.
Uranus
Uranus, near the border of Aries and Taurus, will be well placed for evening observation all winter. A finder chart can be found at: https://theskylive.com/uranus-info
Neptune
Throughout 2025, Neptune will be trailing Saturn across the sky, lagging behind the ringed planet by less than an hour. It can be found in the west after sunset in January and February, before getting lost in the evening twilight. Here is a finder chart for Neptune: https://theskylive.com/planetarium?obj=neptune
Deep Sky Objects
Here is a selection of some good targets for a clear winter night, along with links to star-hop charts to find them.
Messier 35, Gemini
Open cluster, with dimmer cluster NGC 2158 about 30′ to the southwest. Star-hop chart
Messier 36, 37, and 38, Auriga
Three bright open clusters. Star-hop chart
Messier 41, Canis Major
Open cluster about 3 degrees south of Sirius. Star-hop chart
Messier 42 and 43, Orion
The beautiful Orion Nebula. Star-hop chart
Messier 46 and 47, Puppis
Two open clusters. M46 includes a planetary nebula, NGC 2438, in the foreground. Star-hop chart
Messier 78, Orion
Reflection nebula, magnitude 8, around a pair of stars. Star-hop chart
Messier 79, Lepus
Globular cluster, magnitude 7.7. Star-hop chart
Messier 81 and 82, Ursa Major
Two bright nearby galaxies–Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy. Star-hop chart
Beta Monoceros
Triple star, with components separated by 2.8″ and 7.2″. Star-hop chart