Moon Phases
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Waxing Gibbous 96% illuminated
Rise: 6:01 PM
Set: 5:47 AM
Eye on the Night Sky, April 24, 2026
Friday, April 24, 2026
Today:
The now Gibbous Moon presides over a more tightly knit collection of bright objects in the west, by around 9:15 PM. Jupiter, forming a triangle with Pollux and Castor, heads of the Gemini Twins, jis wice as high as the sinking Orion in the west. To the left of the Moon, the star Regulus awaits its redezvous with our sliver, cratered companion.
Saturday:
Tonight Leo catches up to the Moon. So much so, in fact, that Regulus will briefly disappear behind the Moon in much of the continental U.S. But such an occultation will be a near miss for those of us in New England. Regulus will pass just barely over the top of the Moon at around 9:30 PM. Although slowly, Regulus will then slip farther and farther to the Moon’s west for the rest of the night, as both drop to western horizon at around 3:20 AM.
Sunday:
By 9:00 PM the constellation Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, rises into the east-northeast, one third of the way from the lower left of Arcturus, and to the upper right of Vega, just rising in the northeast. Its middle star, alternatively named Alpheca or, more appropriately Gemma, is the jewel in the crown, and highlights the semi-circle of stars.
Start Chart:
Total Lunar Eclipse
The Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow early Tuesday morning, March 3rd, 2026.
The Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow late at night on Tuesday, March 3rd, just as twilight increases. By the time the Moon is fully eclipsed, it becomes difficult to see in the brightening twilight, and it sets only 20 minutes after the eclipse is total.
The Earth’s rotation causes the stars, as well as the Moon, to rise in the east and set in the west. The Moon’s orbital motion, however, goes the opposite way, with the Moon actually moving from west to east, but much, much more slowly. This means the Moon’s expected motion, lowering toward the western horizon, comes from the Earth’s rotation. The Moon’s actual orbital motion causes it to move into the Earth’s shadow from lower right to upper left. This explains why the shadow starts on the Moon’s upper left, and progresses to the lower right.
Lunar eclipses aren’t rare, but they are also not frequent. The next Total Lunar Eclipse visible here is in June 2029, followed by another in December of 2029.
This program is a partnership between the Fairbanks Museum and Vermont Public.