What's In The Sky - March 2024

New Moon, Dark Skies
Take advantage of the dark skies provided by the New Moon on March 10 to scope out the many star clusters, galaxies, and other deep-sky gems March has to offer. A couple of days before and after the 10th, when the Moon is just a sliver, also make great nights for plying the night skies.

Catch the Zodiacal Light
In the northern hemisphere, March is a great month to catch the Zodiacal Light. The zodiacal light is a diffuse cone of light that appears in the east before dawn in the weeks surrounding the Spring Equinox, which happens to occur on March 19. The ghostly pyramid, which is broadest and brightest at the horizon, is caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the plane of our solar system (along the ecliptic, the path through the constellations of the zodiac); dust that is now believed to have escaped from Mars. You'll need a dark sky to see the zodiacal light, and that means without interference by moonlight as well.

A Cluster and a Crescent
On March 14 the Pleiades Star Cluster will sparkle just 0.4 degrees from the 5-day-old waxing crescent Moon. This will make a pretty sight in binoculars or a wide-field telescope. Look for them in the western sky once it gets dark outside.

Hunt the Hunter
March is still a good month to see the constellation of Orion named after a hunter in Greek mythology and its dazzling emission nebula M42, also called the Great Orion Nebula. After March, our namesake constellation will sink lower toward the horizon in the west, making it harder to see. The entirety of the nebula can easily be seen residing in the middle of Orion's "sword" with 50mm or larger binoculars. Using a telescope will reveal more intricate details, including the tight grouping of four bright stars known as the Trapezium. Can you resolve them? Interestingly, the Trapezium cluster was discovered by Galileo in 1617, but he only saw three of the stars. The fourth was discovered by Jean Picard several decades later.

Prep for April's Total Solar Eclipse
Are you ready for next month's total solar eclipse? April 8th is the date for this jaw-dropping spectacle, the path of which will cross North America. Use this month to firm up any travel plans, get your observing and photographic gear together, including your solar filters and solar viewing glasses. If you're going to photograph the eclipse make sure to practice on the Sun this month with the camera and telescope or lens you will use on eclipse day. You don't want any unpleasant surprises in the countdown to totality!

And don't forget to download our free solar eclipse viewer's guide

March Challenge Object
NGC 3242 is not actually too challenging to find. In fact, it is dubbed the "Ghost of Jupiter" because it looks like a ghostly incarnation of the planet Jupiter in both size and shape in small telescopes. Residing in the constellation Hydra, this slightly oblate planetary nebula can be distinguished at low power thanks to its 8.6-magnitude brightness, its slightly pudgy out-of-focus star countenance, and its pale blue-green color (quite unlike the color of Jupiter). Look about 2 degrees below the 4th-magnitude star mu Hydrae. With 6" of aperture and high power you can begin to discern the 12th-magnitude central star surrounded by a faint ring. With a 10" Dob at 200x more structure becomes visible, with an outer halo circumscribing a more defined inner ring. One observer described it as looking like the CBS "eye" logo. Give it a look low in the south-southeastern sky this month!

All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.