Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Skywatching Science Skywatching What’s Up: March 2025… Skywatching Home What’s Up What to See Tonight Moon Guide Eclipses Meteor Showers More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ A Fast-Moving Planet and a Crimson Moon!
Catch Mercury if you can, then stay up late for a total lunar eclipse, and learn the truth about the dark side of the Moon.
Skywatching Highlights
All Month – Planets Visibility:
Mercury: Speedy Mercury is visible beneath Venus for the first week and a half of March, for about 30 minutes each evening, as sunset fades. Venus: Venus hangs low in the west after sunset early in the month, but quickly drops lower as the days pass. After mid-March, it’s difficult to observe in the glow of fading sunlight. Mars: Find Mars high in the east following sunset, then setting around 3 a.m. Jupiter: Visible high in the west after dark, and setting about 1 a.m. Daily Highlights:
March 7-9 – Catch Mercury: Look for Mercury beginning about 30 minutes after sunset in the west, about 10 degrees above the horizon.
March 13-14 – Total Lunar Eclipse: The Moon becomes a crimson orb over a couple of hours on March 13th and into the 14th, depending on your time zone.
March 14 – Full moon
March 29 – New moon: This is when the dark side of the Moon faces toward Earth. The new moon appears close to the Sun in the sky, so it’s essentially invisible from the surface (except during solar eclipses).
Transcript
What’s Up for March? A good time to catch Mercury, an eclipse approaches, and the dark side of the Moon.
March Planet Viewing
March begins with Venus still hanging out low in the west after sunset, but it quickly drops out of the sky – by mid-month it’s getting lost in the glare of sunset. Once it gets dark, you’ll find Jupiter and Mars high overhead, keeping you company through the evening. Mars sets a couple of hours after midnight this month, leaving the morning sky “planet free” for the first time in a year.
Sky chart showing Venus and Mercury after sunset in early March. NASA/JPL-Caltech March also has the best opportunity this year for trying to spot fast-moving Mercury if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s only visible for a few weeks at a time every 3 to 4 months. This is because the speedy planet orbits the Sun in just 88 days, so it quickly shifts its position in the sky from day to day. It’s always visible either just after sunset or just before sunrise. On March 7th through 9th, look for Mercury beginning about 30 minutes after sunset in the west, about 10 degrees above the horizon.
You’ll want to ensure your view isn’t blocked by trees, buildings, or other obstructions. Observing from a large, open field, or the shore of a lake or the seaside can be helpful. Spying Mercury isn’t always easy, but catching the fleet-footed planet is a worthy goal for any skywatcher.
Total Lunar Eclipse
This map shows where the Moon will be above the horizon during the March 13-14 total lunar eclipse. There’s a total lunar eclipse on the way this month, visible across the Americas. Lunar eclipses can be viewed from anywhere the Moon is above the horizon at the time. The show unfolds overnight on March 13th and into the 14th, depending on your time zone. Check the schedule for your area for precise timing.
Now, during a total lunar eclipse, we watch as the Moon passes through Earth’s shadow. It first appears to have a bite taken out of one side, but as maximum eclipse nears, the Moon transforms into a deep crimson orb. That red color comes from the ring of all the sunsets and sunrises you’d see encircling our planet if you were an astronaut on the lunar surface right then. Afterward, the eclipse plays out in reverse, with the red color fading, and the dark bite shrinking, until the Moon looks like its usual self again.
And here’s an interesting pattern: eclipses always arrive in pairs. A couple weeks before or after a total lunar eclipse, there’s always a solar eclipse. This time, it’s a partial solar eclipse that will be visible across Eastern Canada, Greenland, and Northern Europe.
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Moon has a dark side, but it may not be what you think. As it orbits around Earth each month, the Moon is also rotating (or spinning). So, while we always see the same face of the Moon, sunlight sweeps across the lunar surface every month as it rotates.
This means there’s no permanently “dark” side. The Moon’s dark side faces Earth when the Moon passes between our planet and the Sun each month. This is the moment when the Moon is said to be “new,” as in a fresh start for its changing phases.
The new moon is also located quite close the Sun in the sky, making it more or less invisible, unless there’s a solar eclipse.
Nights around the new moon phase provide excellent opportunities for observing the sky – especially if you’re using a telescope or doing astrophotography. Without moonlight washing out the sky, you can better see faint stars, nebulas, the Milky Way, and distant galaxies. So next time someone mentions the “dark side of the Moon,” you’ll know there’s more to the story – and you might even discover some deep-sky treasures while the Moon takes its monthly break.
The phases of the Moon for March 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech Above are the phases of the Moon for March. Stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at NASA Science. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Skywatching
Planets
Solar System Exploration
Moons
View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 1 min read
Hubble Captures New View of Colorful Veil
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image a supernova remnant called the Veil Nebula. ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sankrit
Download this image
In this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Hubble once again lifts the veil on a famous — and frequently photographed — supernova remnant: the Veil Nebula. The remnant of a star roughly 20 times as massive as the Sun that exploded about 10,000 years ago, the Veil Nebula is situated about 2,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. Hubble images of this photogenic nebula were first taken in 1994 and 1997, and again in 2015.
This view combines images taken in three different filters by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, highlighting emission from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms. The image shows just a small fraction of the Veil Nebula; if you could see the entire nebula without the aid of a telescope, it would be as wide as six full Moons placed side-by-side.
Although this image captures the Veil Nebula at a single point in time, it helps researchers understand how the supernova remnant evolves over decades. Combining this snapshot with Hubble observations from 1994 will reveal the motion of individual knots and filaments of gas over that span of time, enhancing our understanding of this stunning nebula.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Explore More
The Death Throes of Stars
Homing in on Cosmic Explosions
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Share
Details
Last Updated Feb 28, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Supernova Remnants Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights
Hubble’s Nebulae
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
View the full article
-
By NASA
NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete Engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Bohdan Wesely, right, and Eli Hiss, left, complete a fit check of the two halves of a space capsule that will study the clouds of Venus for signs of life.
Led by Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California, and their partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Rocket Lab’s Venus mission will be the first private mission to the planet.
NASA’s role is to help the commercial space endeavor succeed by providing expertise in thermal protection of small spacecraft. Invented at Ames, NASA’s Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) – the brown, textured material covering the bottom of the capsule in this photo – is a woven heat shield designed to protect spacecraft from temperatures up to 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The probe will deploy from Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft bus, taking measurements as it descends through the planet’s atmosphere.
Teams at Ames work with private companies, like Rocket Lab, to turn NASA materials into solutions such as the heat shield tailor-made for this spacecraft destined for Venus, supporting growth of the new space economy. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, supported development of the heat shield for Rocket Lab’s Venus mission.
View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 5 Min Read NASA’s Hubble Provides Bird’s-Eye View of Andromeda Galaxy’s Ecosystem
A view of the distribution of known satellite galaxies orbiting the large Andromeda galaxy (M31), located 2.5 million light-years away. Credits:
NASA, ESA, Alessandro Savino (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Akira Fujii DSS2 Located 2.5 million light-years away, the majestic Andromeda galaxy appears to the naked eye as a faint, spindle-shaped object roughly the angular size of the full Moon. What backyard observers don’t see is a swarm of nearly three dozen small satellite galaxies circling the Andromeda galaxy, like bees around a hive.
These satellite galaxies represent a rambunctious galactic “ecosystem” that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is studying in unprecedented detail. This ambitious Hubble Treasury Program used observations from more than a whopping 1,000 Hubble orbits. Hubble’s optical stability, clarity, and efficiency made this ambitious survey possible. This work included building a precise 3D mapping of all the dwarf galaxies buzzing around Andromeda and reconstructing how efficiently they formed new stars over the nearly 14 billion years of the universe’s lifetime.
This is a wide-angle view of the distribution of known satellite galaxies orbiting the large Andromeda galaxy (M31), located 2.5 million light-years away. The Hubble Space Telescope was used to study the entire population of 36 mini-galaxies circled in yellow. Andromeda is the bright spindle-shaped object at image center. All the dwarf galaxies seem to be confined to a plane, all orbiting in the same direction. The wide view is from ground-based photography. Hubble’s optical stability, clarity, and efficiency made this ambitious survey possible. Hubble close up snapshots of four dwarf galaxies are on image right. The most prominent dwarf galaxy is M32 (NGC 221), a compact ellipsoidal galaxy that might be the remnant core of a larger galaxy that collided with Andromeda a few billion years ago. NASA, ESA, Alessandro Savino (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Akira Fujii DSS2 In the study published in The Astrophysical Journal, Hubble reveals a markedly different ecosystem from the smaller number of satellite galaxies that circle our Milky Way. This offers forensic clues as to how our Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda have evolved differently over billions of years. Our Milky Way has been relatively placid. But it looks like Andromeda has had a more dynamic history, which was probably affected by a major merger with another big galaxy a few billion years ago. This encounter, and the fact that Andromeda is as much as twice as massive as our Milky Way, could explain its plentiful and diverse dwarf galaxy population.
Surveying the Milky Way’s entire satellite system in such a comprehensive way is very challenging because we are embedded inside our galaxy. Nor can it be accomplished for other large galaxies because they are too far away to study the small satellite galaxies in much detail. The nearest galaxy of comparable mass to the Milky Way beyond Andromeda is M81, at nearly 12 million light-years.
This bird’s-eye view of Andromeda’s satellite system allows us to decipher what drives the evolution of these small galaxies. “We see that the duration for which the satellites can continue forming new stars really depends on how massive they are and on how close they are to the Andromeda galaxy,” said lead author Alessandro Savino of the University of California at Berkeley. “It is a clear indication of how small-galaxy growth is disturbed by the influence of a massive galaxy like Andromeda.”
“Everything scattered in the Andromeda system is very asymmetric and perturbed. It does appear that something significant happened not too long ago,” said principal investigator Daniel Weisz of the University of California at Berkeley. “There’s always a tendency to use what we understand in our own galaxy to extrapolate more generally to the other galaxies in the universe. There’s always been concerns about whether what we are learning in the Milky Way applies more broadly to other galaxies. Or is there more diversity among external galaxies? Do they have similar properties? Our work has shown that low-mass galaxies in other ecosystems have followed different evolutionary paths than what we know from the Milky Way satellite galaxies.”
For example, half of the Andromeda satellite galaxies all seem to be confined to a plane, all orbiting in the same direction. “That’s weird. It was actually a total surprise to find the satellites in that configuration and we still don’t fully understand why they appear that way,” said Weisz.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
This animation begins with a view of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. We zoom through a scattering of foreground stars and enter the inky blackness of intergalactic space. We cross 2.5 million light-years to reach the Andromeda system, consisting of 36 dwarf satellite galaxies orbiting the giant spindle-shaped Andromeda galaxy at image center. An ambitious survey by the Hubble Space Telescope was made to plot the galaxy locations in three-dimensional space. In this video we circle around a model of the Andromeda system based on real Hubble observational data. NASA, ESA, Christian Nieves (STScI), Alessandro Savino (UC Berkeley); Acknowledgment: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), Robert Gendler The brightest companion galaxy to Andromeda is Messier 32 (M32). This is a compact ellipsoidal galaxy that might just be the remnant core of a larger galaxy that collided with Andromeda a few billion years ago. After being gravitationally stripped of gas and some stars, it continued along its orbit. Galaxy M32 contains older stars, but there is evidence it had a flurry of star formation a few billion years ago. In addition to M32, there seems to be a unique population of dwarf galaxies in Andromeda not seen in the Milky Way. They formed most of their stars very early on, but then they didn’t stop. They kept forming stars out of a reservoir of gas at a very low rate for a much longer time.
“Star formation really continued to much later times, which is not at all what you would expect for these dwarf galaxies,” continued Savino. “This doesn’t appear in computer simulations. No one knows what to make of that so far.”
“We do find that there is a lot of diversity that needs to be explained in the Andromeda satellite system,” added Weisz. “The way things come together matters a lot in understanding this galaxy’s history.”
Hubble is providing the first set of imaging where astronomers measure the motions of the dwarf galaxies. In another five years Hubble or NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be able to get the second set of observations, allowing astronomers to do a dynamical reconstruction for all 36 of the dwarf galaxies, which will help astronomers to rewind the motions of the entire Andromeda ecosystem billions of years into the past.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Explore More
NASA’s Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy
Hubble’s High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy
Explore the Night Sky: Messier 31
Hubble’s Galaxies
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Science Contact:
Alessandro Savino
University of California, Berkeley, California
Share
Details
Last Updated Feb 27, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Andromeda Galaxy Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Galaxy Details and Mergers
Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
View the full article
-
By NASA
Creating a golden streak in the night sky, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander (IM-2) and NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer soars upward after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:16 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Feb. 26. The IM-2 launch, which is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, is carrying NASA technology and science demonstrations, and other commercial payloads to Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau to advance our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. (Credit: NASA) The next set of NASA science and technology demonstrations is on its way to the lunar surface, where they will gather data about Earth’s nearest neighbor and help pave the way for American astronauts to explore the Moon and beyond, for the benefit of all.
Carrying NASA instruments as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launched at 7:16 p.m. EST, Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau in the Moon’s South Pole.
“With each CLPS mission, the United States is leading the way in expanding our reach and refining our capabilities, turning what was once dreams into reality,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “These science and technology demonstrations are more than payloads – they represent the foundation for future explorers who will live and work on the Moon. By partnering with American industry, we are driving innovation, strengthening our leadership in space, and preparing for sending humans farther into the solar system, including Mars.”
Intuitive Machines’ NOVA-C lunar lander captures a selfie with Earth in the background shortly after separation. Credit: Intuitive Machines Once on the Moon, the NASA CLPS investigations will aim to measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil – one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any future orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give them a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone designed to hop across the lunar surface.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, which launched as a rideshare with the IM-2 mission, also began its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon. Lunar Trailblazer will discover where the Moon’s water is, what form it is in, and how it changes over time. Observations gathered during its two-year prime mission will contribute to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system while also supporting future human and robotic missions to the Moon by identifying where water is located.
NASA’s Artemis campaign includes conducting more science to better understand planetary processes and evolution, to search for evidence of water and other resources, and support long-term, sustainable human exploration.
The NASA science and technology instruments that launched aboard the IM-2 mission are:
Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1): This experiment will explore the Moon’s subsurface and analyze where lunar resources may reside. The experiment’s two key instruments will demonstrate the ability to extract and analyze lunar soil to detect volatile chemical compounds that turn into gas. The two instruments will work in tandem: The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains will drill into the Moon’s surface to collect samples, while the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations will analyze these samples to determine the gas composition released across the sampling depth. The PRIME-1 technology will provide valuable data to better understand the Moon’s surface and how to work with and on it. Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA): This collection of eight retroreflectors will enable precision laser ranging, which is a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The LRA is a passive optical instrument and will function as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come. Micro Nova Hopper: Funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Tipping Point initiative, Intuitive Machines’ Micro Nova hopper, Grace, is designed to enable high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface under its flight path. This autonomous propulsive drone aims to deploy to the surface and hop into a nearby crater to survey the lunar surface and send science data back to the lander. It’s designed to hop in and out of a permanently shadowed region, providing a first look into undiscovered regions that may provide critical information to sustain a human presence on the Moon. Nokia Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS): Also developed with funding from NASA’s Tipping Point initiative, Nokia’s LSCS 4G/LTE communications system will demonstrate cellular communications between the Intuitive Machines lander, a Lunar Outpost rover, and the Micro Nova hopper. Engineered to transmit high-definition video, command-and-control messages, and sensor and telemetry data, the LSCS aims to demonstrate an ultra-compact advanced communication solution for future infrastructure on the Moon and beyond. Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
-end-
Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 321-432-4624
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Feb 27, 2025 LocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Artemis Missions View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.