The brightest planets in March's night sky: How to see them (and when)

a person looks at the night sky through a telescope
Our viewing guide tells you which planets are visible in August's night sky and how you can see them. (Image credit: Tony Rowell/Getty Images)

March is the month that we bid a slow farewell to Venus. She has shone like a dazzling light in the eastern morning sky since late summer. But now, she is dropping lower and rising closer to sunrise. By month’s end Venus will be rising less than half an hour before sunrise and will be quite difficult to see. Meanwhile, two other morning planets are struggling to free themselves from the bright glow of dawn: Mars and Saturn.  Both are only about 1/100 as bright as Venus, so you likely will need binoculars to find them against the bright backdrop of morning twilight. 

In contrast, the two evening planets are far easier to see.  Jupiter remains prominent and well up in the west-southwest sky at nightfall, although it is getting noticeably lower as the month progresses.  Be sure to catch the attractive pairing of Jupiter and the crescent moon on March 13th.    

And Mercury enjoys its finest evening apparition of 2024 and can be readily seen during the middle and latter part of March, shining brightly, low in the western sky, well to the lower right of Jupiter. If you have never caught sight of the so-called “elusive planet” you’ll get an excellent chance this month.

Related: Night sky, March 2024: What you can see tonight [maps]
Read more: Best telescopes for seeing planets in 2024

TOP TELESCOPE PICK:

A Celestron telescope on a white background

(Image credit: Celestron)

Looking for a telescope to see the planets in August? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide

In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them. 

Take note: On March 10th Daylight Saving Time returns on this second Sunday in March.  Except in the states of Arizona and Hawaii, and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, clocks are to be moved forward one hour at 2:00 a.m.  The mnemonic is: "Spring forward, Fall back."   

Be sure to check out our best telescopes for viewing planets guide and our more general guides for the best binoculars and the best telescopes. If you're interested in taking your own impressive skywatching images, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.  

The Sun

On Tuesday, March 19 at 11:06 p.m. EDT or 8:06 p.m. PDT (and 03:06 GMT on Wednesday) the sun will cross the celestial equator traveling north, marking the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of northern spring.  (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

The Sun – on March 19th at 11:06 p.m. EDT, will appear to cross the celestial equator moving north.  Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn begins in the Southern Hemisphere. Incidentally, this is the earliest that the vernal equinox has occurred in 128 years; chiefly an artifact of the year 2000 having been a leap year. Only century years equally divisible by 400 can be leap years. The years 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years. Had 2000 also not been a leap year, the equinox would come a day later, on March 20th. 

Mercury

Mercury as it will appear in the March night sky.  (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

Mercury – stands at greatest eastern elongation, 19-degrees from the sun on the evening of March 24th. For a few days around this event Mercury sets after evening twilight ends, the only such occasion this year for mid-northern observers.  Mercury has a reputation for being hard to see; a famous legend, probably false, is that Copernicus never viewed it in his life.  But if you look at the right times on the right dates, Mercury is easy – so don’t let this opportunity go by.  Just look low in the west 40 to 60 minutes after sunset and about 22-degrees to the lower right of Jupiter; it’s the only bright “star” there. Through a telescope, the zero-magnitude planet will show a tiny disk 43 percent illuminated.  Mercury will remain visible for another week, but as its crescent thins it will fade rapidly, to magnitude +0.5 on March 27th and +1.4 on March 31st.  

Venus

Venus as it will appear in the March night sky.  (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

Venus – opens March rising in the east-southeast about an hour before the sun, but comes up only about 25 minutes before the sun as April approaches.  Venus is now at a minimum magnitude for the year of -3.9.  This brightness holds steady as Venus slips into the solar glare, to be hidden from our view in April. 

Mars

Mars as it will appear in the March night sky.  (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

Mars —  remains barely above the east-southeastern dawn horizon as day begins to brighten. Shining at magnitude +1.2, it is best to use binoculars in order to pick it out of the morning glow. On the morning of March 7th, about 45 minutes before sunrise look very low to the southeast horizon for a slender waning crescent moon.  About 18-degrees to its far left, shines Venus.  About two-thirds of the way from the moon to Venus, will be the much fainter Mars. 

Jupiter

Jupiter as it will appear in the March night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

Jupiter — is the very bright “evening star” high in the west-southwest at dusk. Of magnitude -2.1, the big planet remains above the horizon for 5 hours after sunset, but by April 1st it will be setting two hours earlier.  On the evening of March 13th, you’ll find it 3-degrees to the left of a lovely waxing crescent moon. 

Saturn

Saturn as it will appear in the March night sky. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

Saturn — might be spotted about a half hour before sunrise on the morning of March 21st, when it glimmers into view just 0.7-degree to the lower left of a far-more brilliant Venus.  Look for them with binoculars hovering very low to the east-southeast horizon.  During the days that follow, Saturn (magnitude +1.0) separates from Venus and gains altitude, moving to the upper right, while Venus gradually sinks into the brightening sunrise glow. 

Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of any of the planets and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications.

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Joe Rao
Skywatching Columnist

Joe Rao is Space.com's skywatching columnist, as well as a veteran meteorologist and eclipse chaser who also serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Joe is an 8-time Emmy-nominated meteorologist who served the Putnam Valley region of New York for over 21 years. You can find him on Twitter and YouTube tracking lunar and solar eclipses, meteor showers and more. To find out Joe's latest project, visit him on Twitter.

  • rod
    Good to see in the report Starry Night used for some charts. I use and enjoy very much in my stargazing as well as planet observations and asteroid tracking like 4 Vesta in Cetus now, moving retrograde. In my observation log (MS ACCESS DB), I load up views of the sky from Starry Night into my log entry along with various ephemeris generated that I import into Excel - works very well.
    Reply