FAS Starry Nights Podcast – March 2025
Starry Skies: What can we see in the night skies over East Dorset, Southern Wiltshire and West Hampshire during the month of March 2025.
Steve Tonkin isn’t with us this month, but instead, Mark Hardaker is joined by Duncan Reavell, the Chairman of the Fordingbridge Astronomers.
Mark and Duncan tell you all about what to look for in the night skies of March. Constellation of the Month is Corona Borealis – The Northern Crown. There are two special stars in this constellation: T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), nicknamed the Blaze Star, is a binary star and a recurrent nova about 3,000 light-years away. It’s expected to erupt any time soon. R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) is a low-mass yellow supergiant star which fades by several magnitudes at irregular intervals.
The media-hyped ‘Parade of Planets is still with us. One hightlight is Mercury, which is especially visible on the 12th March. Look for venus just after the sun sets, then look down and slightly left.
There are two eclipses this month too. On 14th March there’s a Total Lunar Eclipse at 04:00 – look for a rusty red moon. This is followed by a Partial Solar Eclipse on 29th March when the moon passes in front of the sun.