What’s Up in the Night Sky? – March 2024

Fred Barrett | Mar 06, 2024

Lights Out next month!

On April 8 there will be a 99% and a bit, almost total eclipse of the Sun occurring in the Sharbot Lake area. If you are willing to go south half way towards Kingston, you will experience a Total eclipse of the Sun for about 1 minute. If you go all the way to Kingston, the total eclipse will last 3 minutes. Totality occurs at 3:23:30 pm EDT. It’s more than worth travelling the short distance south to experience totality. The difference between viewing a partial eclipse compared to a total eclipse is like seeing a picture of a bear and meeting up with the real thing out in the woods! It’s simply not the same.

I can’t emphasize enough the absolute need for proper eye protection. A google search for eye protection will give you sources for purchasing safe eye protection. The website for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) has eye protection you can order as well. Barring that, you can set up a pinhole projector. Get a piece of cardboard and punch a tiny hole in the centre. Put it between the Sun and a flat piece of paper about 12 inches away. The Sun gets projected onto the flat piece of paper. You will have to experiment a little to get the distance right. The distance depends on the size of the pinhole you punched in the cardboard.

Weather is always a concern. Be prepared to move to avoid clouds. It may only take a short distance to get a better view leading up to totality. Unfortunately, April does not have a good reputation for a cloudless sky. There’s about a 70% chance of cloud coverage on average normally but here is where El Nino may help us. The change in weather patterns caused by El Nino may cause a significant decrease in cloud coverage this April. Fingers crossed. Here’s 2 links that can help predict weather leading up to eclipse day: Windy.com and SpotWx.com . I’ll have more next month on the nature of Solar eclipses.

March is another quiet month for meteor showers with nothing major happening but it’s a good month for viewing the cone shaped Zodiacal light rising on the western horizon after twilight. It lifts at angle up towards the Pleiades but its faintness may require you to use averted vision to bring it into view.

Venus is unmistakable in the east before dawn. Mars and Saturn will follow later in the month. Jupiter is about 30 degrees up above the western horizon after sunset with Uranus not far above it. A small scope or good binoculars should bring it out nicely. Early March is best for viewing Jupiter as its height is well above the horizon and the viewing time is decent. Also, it is out of that part of the sky near the horizon that is turbulent and it shines through less distorting atmosphere. That height and time decrease as the month progresses.

Reminder: Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins on March 10. We lose an hour’s sleep time.

Highlights this month: March 7: Moon passes 4 degrees south of Mars at midnight. March 8: Moon passes 3 degrees south of Venus at noon. I put this in because Venus is so bright that I challenge you to find it in daylight with the Moon to act as a reference point. March10: Moon is at perigee – 354,822 Kms. Daylight Savings Time begins. March 13: Moon passes 4 degrees north of Jupiter at 9 pm EDT. March 17: First quarter Moon. March 19: Vernal equinox at 11:06 EDT. March 21: Venus is just a sliver north of Saturn at 0.3 degrees at 10 pm EDT. March 23: Moon is at apogee – 403,936 Kms. March 25: Full Moon. This is the Full Worm Moon so called because worms are suppose to crawl out of the thawed ground -maybe farther south. Also Full Sugar and Full Crow Moon.

Keep looking up! Remember Daylight Savings Time begins March 10 and start getting ready for the April 8 Solar Eclipse! And watch for those late night sporadic meteors!

Don’t forget to check out events at the North Frontenac Dark Sky site, or, as it’s known now, the North Frontenac Astronomy Park.

Also check the Lennox and Addington Dark Sky Viewing Area for observing opportunities this summer.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) website https://rasc.ca has a listing of astronomy events for Ontario and the Kingston branch of the RASC website lists events happening, especially in our area.

Feel free to contact me with questions or observations at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.