Hi, I'm Sonia,
I have been into astronomy since 1997 when I was 11 years old when comet Hale-Bopp was around. I remember being in the back garden with my dad and he was showing me how to take a photo of it with his old Fujica camera, that I still have now.
Ever since then I've been fascinated with space. I started with a very cheap Tasco telescope from Argos to look at the moon, went onto a Meade goto ETX-90 telescope, which unfortunately due to age stopped working.
I currently use a Skywatcher 10" Dobsonian, to mostly photograph the moon and also the planets. I also have a Seestar S50 which got me into deep sky imaging which I love!
More recently I have also aquired a Seestar S30 and a Vespera II
lastly a Coronado PST for solar imaging.
I have two Bsc (Hons) open degrees in "Introducing Astronomy" and "The Planets"
Elected in 2023 I am a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
Along with my blog for StarDome, I'm also a freelancer for the BBC Sky at Night magazine
Clear Skies
Sonia
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March 2026
The March night sky blends the last chill of winter with the first hints of Spring, offering a sky full of shifting light and standout celestial events. As Earth approaches the equinox, longer evenings in the Northern Hemisphere create ideal conditions for spotting bright planets and deep-sky clusters.
Mercury climbs to one of its best evening showings early in March glowing low in the West but soon disappears. Venus is brilliantly bright in the evenings and sets at 7:30pm.
The Spring constellations Leo, Virgo and Hydra in the Southern sky. Leo and Carina host star clusters and occultations that reward patient observers.
Together these shifting patterns make March a month where the sky feels alive with transition, inviting both casual stargazers and seasoned observers to look up and linger.
Planets
Venus is brilliantly bright, at a magnitude -3.9 and will be low in the West. It will set around 7:30pm. However, on the 20th March it will form an excellent sight with the crescent moon.
You might just catch a glimpse of Mercury at a magnitude of +2.4 and will be to the right of Venus and sets earlier around 7pm and will quickly disappear.
Mars is too close to the sun to Observe. Jupiter will still be incredibly bright in the constellation of Gemini at a magnitude of -2.3 and sets early morning around 4am. Saturn will be in the constellation Pisces at the beginning of the month and will be above Venus at a magnitude of +1.0. After mid month Saturn will disappear and not be viewable.
Neptune will appear to the right of Saturn and will be in the constellation Pisces and will around 7:30pm. It will quite dim at a magnitude of +7.8 and will need to be viewed in binoculars or a large telescope. Uranus will be a magnitude +5.8 and
will be in the constellation of Taurus below the magnificent Pleiades and sets around midnight.
Moon phases for March
https://moonphases.co.uk/moon-calendar/2026/1/8
British Summer Time begins and the clocks go forward an hour at 1am the last Sunday in March (29th) shifting the UK onto longer, lighter evenings that signal the start of Spring. This annual change was introduced in 1916 on the 21st May to make better use of daylight, however we do lose an hours sleep but gain brighter evenings that many people associate with the feel of Summer.
The Sun will cross the celestial equator creating almost equal lengths of day and night across the world, it also marks the official start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing longer days an rising temperatures and the first signs of nature waking up. This will happen on the 20th March , which many cultures celebrate as a symbol of balance, renewal and new beginnings.
Astronomical events March 2026
2nd – Moon will appear near Regulus
3rd – Total Lunar eclipse (not visible in the UK)
6th – Moon will appear near to Spica
7th – Venus will be to Neptune
8th – Venus will near to Saturn
10th – Moon will be near to Antares
11th – Last Quarter Moon
19th – New moon
20th – Spring Equinox & Moon will appear near to Venus
25th – First Quarter Moon
26th – Moon will appear near to Jupiter
29th – Clocks go forward and BST begins
And finally, an Artemis II update!
NASA/Kim Shiflett
Artemis is back in the (Vehicle Assembly Building VAB)…
Once the Artemis II hardware was back in the VAB, teams immediately began work on the helium issue discovered on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and prepared for several actions including replacing batteries in the flight termination system, end-to-end testing for range safety requirements, and more.
NASA’s crawler-transporter 2, carrying the agency’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft, arrives Feb. 25, 2026, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to troubleshoot the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Once complete, the SLS rocket will roll back to Launch Complex 39B to prepare to launch four astronauts around the Moon and back for the Artemis II test flight.
Credit: NASA/Cory Husto
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-adds-mission-to-artemis-lunar-program-updates-architecture/
Clear skies and a Magnificent March!
