Moon Phases
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Waxing Gibbous 96% illuminated
Rise: 6:01 PM
Set: 5:47 AM
Eye on the Night Sky, April 3, 2026
Friday, April 03, 2026
Today:
While the Moon, just two days past Full, continues to bathe the skies with moonlight, the western skies play host to several bright objects capable of competing with the lunar glow. These include the bright stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, Aldebaran, and Capella. High in the western sky is Jupiter. Now positioned squarely between the Gemini Twins, Jupiter will drift slowly to the left, toward Pollux, for the rest of the month.
Saturday:
While “The Dog Star” Sirius shines brightly but low in the southwest, Procyon shines directly above Sirius, much higher in the southwest. Procyon appears about half way up in the skies at 9:30 PM, and is the 6th brightest star we can see. Although not quite as close as Sirius, Procyon belongs to our neighborhood of stars, being only 11 light years distant.
Sunday:
For night owls, or very early risers tomorrow morning, the southeastern skies host a wonderful view of the waning Gibbous Moon, rising just minutes before midnight, joined shortly later by the red star Antares, the “heart” of the Scorpion, to the lower left of the Moon. They remain low in the southeast, Antares cresting due south at 4:20 AM, and then toward the southwest as twilight brightens after 5:15 AM.
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.