{"id":3078,"date":"2025-03-05T01:16:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T01:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/?p=3078"},"modified":"2025-03-05T01:16:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T01:16:39","slug":"griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/2025\/03\/05\/griffith-observatory-sky-report-through-march-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Griffith Observatory Sky Report through March, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/strong><\/a>LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/MAR_2025_Sky_Report.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between March 1 and March 31, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California.<\/p>\n

Mercury<\/strong> sets in the west at 7:07 p.m., PST, on the 1st<\/sup>, and the sun sets at 5:50 p.m., PST, one hour 17 minutes earlier. The planet is 76-percent illuminated and 6.0 arcseconds wide. On the 16th<\/sup>, the sun sets at 7:02 p.m., PDT, and Mercury sets in the west at 8:04 p.m., PDT, one hour two minutes later, and is 15-percent illuminated and 9.3 arcseconds wide. After the 16th<\/sup>, Mercury is close to the sun, and it is not safe to observe it. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Venus<\/strong> sets in the west-northwest at 8:13 p.m., PST, on the 1st<\/sup> and is 15-percent illuminated and 49 arcseconds wide. On the 15th<\/sup>, the sun sets at 7:01 p.m., PDT, and Venus sets in the west-northwest at 8:01 p.m., PDT, one hour later, and is 3.4-percent illuminated and 58 arcseconds wide. After the 15th<\/sup>, Venus is close to the sun, and it is not safe to observe it. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Mars<\/strong> is in Gemini the Twins. On the 1st<\/sup>, Mars sets in the northwest at 3:52 a.m., PST, and is 94-percent illuminated and 11 arcseconds wide. On the 8th<\/sup>, Mars is less than two degrees west-southwest of the first quarter moon. On the 31st<\/sup>, Mars sets in the northwest at 3:14 a.m., PDT, and is 91-percent illuminated and 8.3 arcseconds wide. A magnification of 150x is needed to see its small disk.<\/p>\n

Jupiter<\/strong> is in Taurus the Bull. On the 1st<\/sup>, Jupiter sets in the west-northwest at 1:05 a.m., PST, and is 40 arcseconds wide. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets in the west-northwest at 12:24 a.m., PDT, and is 36 arcseconds wide. A telescope capable of magnification 50x will show the Red Spot, and the four bright Galilean moons can be seen moving back and forth, across and behind Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Saturn<\/strong> is in Aquarius the Water Bearer. The planet is close to the sun all month long and is not safe to observe. On the 1st<\/sup>, Saturn sets at 6:30 p.m., PST, 40 minutes after the sun sets. On the 31st<\/sup>, Saturn rises at 6:08 a.m., PDT, and the sun rises at 6:41 a.m., PDT, 33 minutes later. Do not observe any planet when it appears close to the sun, for the danger to the eyes is great.<\/p>\n

Uranus<\/strong> is in Aries the Ram. The planet moves into Taurus the Bull on the 4th<\/sup>. On the 1st<\/sup>, Uranus sets in the west-northwest at 11:33 p.m., PST. On the 31st<\/sup>, the planet sets at 10:40 p.m., PDT. On the 15th<\/sup>, Uranus is at Right Ascension 03h<\/sup> 26m<\/sup> 59s<\/sup> with a declination of +18\u00b0 34\u02b9 00\u02ba. Uranus is only 3.5 arcseconds wide, and so a telescope with a magnification of 200x is needed.<\/p>\n

Neptune<\/strong> is in Pisces the Fishes. On the 1st<\/sup>, Neptune sets in the west at 7:09 p.m., PST, one hour 19 minutes after the sun sets, and is 2.2 arcseconds wide. On the 6th<\/sup>, Neptune sets less than one hour after the sun sets, is close to the sun for the rest of March, and is not safe to observe then. The position of Neptune on the 15th<\/sup> is Right Ascension 23h<\/sup> 59m<\/sup> 51s<\/sup> with a declination of -01\u00b0 23\u02b9 28\u02ba.<\/p>\n

The first quarter moon occurs on the 6th<\/sup>, full moon on the 13th<\/sup>, last quarter on the 22nd<\/sup>, and new moon on the 29th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daylight Saving Time<\/strong> begins on Sunday, March 9th<\/sup>, at 2:00 a.m., PST. All clocks must be set forward one hour, according to the saying, \u201cSpring forward, fall back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring begins <\/strong>in the earth\u2019s northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere, at 2:01 a.m., PDT, on the 20th<\/sup>. At that precise moment, when the sun reaches the point where the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator, it moves from south to north. The point where and the time when the sun crosses the celestial equator to the north is the vernal equinox. Spring ends with the summer solstice on June 20.<\/p>\n

A total lunar eclipse<\/strong> occurs on Thursday the 13th<\/sup>. The moon enters the umbral or inner, darker part of earth\u2019s shadow, at 10:09 p.m., PDT. Mid-eclipse occurs at 11:59 p.m., PDT, and the moon exits the umbra on the 14th<\/sup> at 1:48 a.m., PDT. Griffith Observatory will hold a web broadcast, but the observatory and Griffith Park will be closed to the public.<\/p>\n

In the major lunar standstill of 2024-2025,<\/strong> the March, 2025, northernmost moon occurs with the setting of the first quarter moon on the evening of the 6th<\/sup> and the rising of the moon on the morning of the 7th<\/sup>. The southernmost excursion occurs on the morning of the 22nd<\/sup>, when the last quarter moon rises. For details on the major lunar standstill, please visit the website at https:\/\/griffithobservatory.org\/extreme-moon-the-major-lunar-standstills-of-2024-2025\/<\/p>\n

Follow All Space Considered and Griffith Observatory on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> for updates on astronomy and space-related events.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LISTEN to this week\u2019s Sky Report https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/MAR_2025_Sky_Report.mp3 This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the period between March 1 and March 31, 2025. Here are the events happening in the sky of southern California. Mercury sets in the west … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skyreport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3084,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078\/revisions\/3084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.griffithmedia.org\/skyreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}