Adler Skywatch: March 2025
Header Image:The May 15, 2022 lunar eclipse at totality. The full moon appears to be a dark red-orange as the Earth’s shadow covers it. Image credit: Adler Planetarium
Daylight Saving time, a total lunar eclipse, and the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere all occur this month, March 2025.
Get Ready For The Total Lunar Eclipse
The Moon gets totally eclipsed this month, beginning late at night on March 13 and into early morning on March 14. In the western part of the United States, the eclipse takes place primarily before midnight on March 13. In the eastern United States, much of the eclipse occurs after midnight on March 14. But no matter where you are located, eclipse totality runs for just over an hour.
How To See The Total Lunar Eclipse In Chicago
In the Chicago area, the Moon starts its entry into the Earth’s lighter outer shadow, called the penumbra, at 10:57 pm Central Daylight Time on March 13. The more noticeable darkening of the Moon occurs when the Moon begins its entry into the Earth’s darker inner shadow, called the umbra, starting at 12:09 am on March 14. By 1:26 am, the full Moon is totally within the umbral shadow, reaching totality at 1:58 am.
Totality ends in the Chicago area at 2:31 am, and the partial eclipse ends at 3:47 am when the Moon exits the umbral shadow. The Moon exits the Earth’s penumbral shadow at 5:00 am, ending the eclipse. The Moon generally does not entirely disappear during totality, depending upon atmospheric conditions at the time of the eclipse. Often it takes on a rusty, deep-red color, giving a lunar eclipse the common name of blood Moon.
Interested in learning more about lunar eclipses? Head to our blog Everything You Need To Know To See The Next Lunar Eclipse On March 13–14, 2025.
Spring Begins
The vernal equinox, which marks the first day of spring, occurs at 4:01 am CDT on March 20. On the equinox, the Sun is directly in line with Earth’s equator, rising and setting due east and west, making daylight and nighttime roughly equally long on this date. Each day will have more daylight time until the summer solstice, which this year falls on June 20.
Daylight Saving Time Begins
Daylight Saving time begins on March 9 in 2025. Don’t forget to move your clocks forward one hour at 2:00 am! Daylight Saving time lasts until November 2 this year.
What Planets Are Visible In March 2025
The first couple weeks of the month, the brightest planet, Venus, is dazzling and low in the western skies during early-evening twilight. By mid-month, it gets too close to the setting Sun to be readily visible. But don’t worry—Venus reappears at the end of the month, shortly before sunrise, low in the east.
For the first half of the month, Mercury appears not far from Venus, near the western horizon. Though not as bright as Venus, Mercury is brighter than zero magnitude the first week of the month. On March 1, a two-day-old waxing crescent Moon appears between Venus and Mercury. Each evening, Mercury gets slightly dimmer. It appears to get closer to Venus until March 13. By this time Mercury is at about first-magnitude and becomes difficult to view in the setting Sun’s glare.
The bright planet Jupiter pops into view, high in the southwestern skies, during evening twilight. Like last month, it appears near the “V”-shaped asterism in the constellation Taurus. At brighter than minus-two magnitude, Jupiter is brighter than even the brightest stars in the night sky! It’s low in the west-northwest skies around midnight.
Mars also appears during evening twilight this month, high in the southeastern skies. Unlike Jupiter or Venus, which are notably bright in the night sky, Mars varies in brightness, as its distance from the Earth changes considerably over the course of weeks and months. It begins the month at brighter than zero magnitude, which is noticeably brighter than the nearby twin stars, Pollux and Castor, of the Gemini constellation. Mars gets slightly dimmer as each night passes and Earth gradually moves farther from the red planet. By the end of the month, the planet is about +0.44 magnitude—which is still brighter than Pollux or Castor. But by the end of next month, it dims to about first-magnitude; so you may want to look out for Mars now, while it is noticeably brighter than the stars around it.
The night of March 8 and early-morning darkness of March 9, Mars is near a waxing gibbous Moon. Mars sets in the west-northwest before the start of morning twilight in March.
This month the planet Saturn appears so close to the Sun in the sky that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to see.
March 2025 Moon Phases
First Quarter Moon: March 6
Full Moon: March 14, nicknamed the worm Moon
Last Quarter Moon: March 22
New Moon: March 29
Please note: these descriptions are for the Chicago area, using Central time.
Subscribe To Skywatch Wednesday This March
Tour the sky with the Adler Planetarium’s Theaters Manager, Nick, in Skywatch Wednesday. Nick uses cutting edge visualizations, NASA images, and astrophotography to show you what you can see in the night sky throughout the year.
Check out Nick’s latest episode for your guide to spring stargazing and the March lunar eclipse!
Learn From Our Astronomy Educators
Watch recaps of Sky Observers Hangout livestreams this March! Learn how to observe upcoming cosmic happenings, enhance your astrophotography skills, and see celestial objects through a telescope virtually with our astronomy educators.
In the latest episode, Michelle and Hunter observe the planetary parade of 2025. See Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus through the 24” telescope in the Doane Observatory!
