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What’s up in the night sky: March 2026

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature, where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month: the last total lunar eclipse until New Year’s Eve 2028 occurs on March 3. Also, the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, are shining bright in the evening sky.

All month: Very bright Jupiter is up high in the east when the Sun sets. It is more than twice as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, which is not too far in the sky from Jupiter.

All month: Yellowish Saturn is visible early in the month, very low in the west in the early evening. As the month goes by, it will get even lower to the horizon, eventually becoming impossible to see.

All month: Super bright Venus is very low to the western horizon at dusk. It gets higher above the horizon as the month goes on. 

March 3: A total lunar eclipse is visible in North America, South America, eastern Asia, and Australia. The peak of the total eclipse will be at 11:34 UTC (06:34 EST). From the Americas, it will be the morning of March 3 (i.e., the continuation of the night starting March 2), and from Australia and eastern Asia, it will be the evening of March 3. Below are the key times in the eclipse. For a lot of great general information on lunar eclipses, see our lunar eclipse page.

EventUTCESTPST
P1: The Moon enters the Penumbra: very subtle, hard to see, darkening begins.08:4403:4400:44
Ul: The Moon enters the Umbra: distinctive darkening begins at one edge of the Moon09:5004:5001:50
U2 The Moon is now totally eclipsed11:0406:0403:04
Peak of the eclipse--best view of the darkened, likely reddish Moon.11:3406:3403:34
U3 The Moon starts coming out of the umbral shadow.12:0307:0304:03
U4 The Moon is fully out of the umbral shadow – end of the easy-to-see part of the eclipse.13:1708:1705:17
P4 The Moon is completely out of all parts of the shadow; the eclipse ends.14:2309230623
February 2026 lunar eclipse visibility
February 2026 lunar eclipse visibility Visibility of the Total Lunar Eclipse, March 3, 2026.Image: NASA GSFC/F. Espenak

March 3: Full Moon.

March 7, 8:  Super bright Venus is near the much less bright, yellowish Saturn in the very early evening west.

March 7, 2026 NIGHT SKY SNAPSHOT
March 7, 2026 NIGHT SKY SNAPSHOT Soon after sunset in the west, super bright Venus is near yellowish Saturn tonight and tomorrow night. (Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium

March 18: New Moon

March 20: March Equinox

March 25: The Moon is near very bright Jupiter high in the evening sky.

March 25, 2026: NIGHT SKY SNAPSHOT
March 25, 2026: NIGHT SKY SNAPSHOT The Moon is near very bright Jupiter, here shown in the early evening. That part of the sky also contains many other bright stars, including six of the brightest, referred to as the (northern) Winter Hexagon. Green lines show angular altitude. (Pasadena, California. Latitude: about 34 degrees north.)Image: Bruce Betts/The Planetary Society using Stellarium
The Milky Way over Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

Learn more about the Night Sky

Our journey to know the Cosmos and our place within it starts right outside our windows, in the night sky. Get weekly reports on what's visible and learn how to become a better backyard observer.

Bruce Betts

Bruce Betts

Chief Scientist / LightSail Program Manager for The Planetary Society
Read more articles by Bruce Betts