This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 March 1 – March 15
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2025 March 1 – March 15
There are two five week eclipse seasons each year when the Sun and the Moon align, and those periods occur 19 days earlier each year. Lunar and solar eclipses usually occur in pairs but both are not always seen in the same area. This week brings a total eclipse of the Moon, and near month’s end New Brunswick will also get a partial eclipse of the Sun. In September there will be a total lunar eclipse in the eastern hemisphere and a partial solar eclipse in the South Pacific two weeks later.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the full Moon passes partly or completely through Earth’s shadow, which is about twice as wide as the Moon at that distance. Just past midnight on March 14 the Moon enters the subtle gray penumbral shadow, which might not be noticed until half an hour later. The partial phase begins at 2:09 a.m. with the dark shadow creeping westward across the lunar maria, mountains and craters. As it progresses we notice more stars appearing as the sky darkens, and the Moon starts taking on a new hue with the red portion of sunlight being bent through our atmosphere toward that direction. At 3:26 the Moon becomes fully engulfed in the umbral shadow for 66 minutes, and by 5:48 it is all over except for the receding penumbra. Our last total eclipse of the Moon occurred in November 2022, setting before the end of totality. Clouds obliterated a late evening total eclipse in May of that year.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise is at 6:49 and sunset will occur at 6:21, giving 11 hours, 32 minutes of daylight. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:36 and set at 7:30, giving 11 hours, 54 minutes of daylight. Clocks go ahead for DST this Sunday at 2 am.
The Moon is full and within Earth’s shadow very early next Friday, and it is near Spica the following day. Mercury is at greatest elongation this Saturday, maintaining the same altitude at sunset all week as Venus slides past to its right. They will be within the same binocular view most of the week. Jupiter rides high in the northwest in evening twilight above the V-shaped Hyades cluster, while Mars is higher in the south triangulating with the Gemini twins. Before midnight Tuesday telescope users might see a double shadow transit of Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede. Saturn is in solar conjunction on Wednesday.
The Fredericton Astronomy Club meets in the UNB Forestry-Earth Sciences Building on Tuesday at 7 pm. Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.