This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 27 – March 8

Jupiter forms a T with the Moon, Pollux, and Castor on Friday February 27th. Low in the western twilight, Saturn and Venus close in on each other. And can you catch the total lunar eclipse on the morning of March 3rd?
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Celestial News & Events

This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 27 – March 8

By:

Alan MacRobert

February 27, 2026

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27

■ While twilight is still bright this evening, watch for Venus to emerge very low in the west as shown below. Saturn, much fainter, comes into view somewhat later about a fist at arm's length above Venus and perhaps a bit left. Mercury is now all but invisible. Venus and Mercury set before the end of twilight. This loose gathering, plus Jupiter high overhead, is behind the ridiculous "planet parade" hype you may have seen in other outlets along with spectacular illustrations of six huge planets lined up in a row across the sky. See "This Week's Planet Roundup" farther below.)

[It's the "Planet Parade": Venus, Saturn, and Mercury low in the west in bright twilight, Feb. 27, 2026]

*Saturn, Venus, and challenging, fast-fading Mercury form a long, narrow triangle in the west as sunset's afterglow fades. This evening the triangle is 10° long, about a fist at arm's length. Binoculars will help* *— especially for little Mercury, dropping in brightness each day.*

■ Much higher this evening, the Moon, Castor, and Pollux form a fairly straight line, with Jupiter perpendicular to the line and forming a T. See the scene below.

How exact will this pattern be? Your view may diverge a bit from the illustration depending on your location and time. This is due to the orbital motion of the fickle Moon creeping across its celestial background hour by hour, and to your own particular point of view toward the Moon from the Earth's wide surface. Moreover, Earth carries you sideways as it rotates.

This whole celestial group will turn clockwise as a unit as it crosses the sky through the night, because the rotating Earth also changes your idea of which way is up.

[The Moon passing Jupiter, Castor, and Pollux, Feb. 25-27, 2026]

SATURDAY, ************FEBRUARY 28****************

■ Now the Moon, in dim Cancer, shines far lower left of Jupiter and company as shown above at nightfall. By 8 or 9 p.m. the scene will have turned so that Jupiter is directly right of the Moon.

SUNDAY, MARCH 1

■ The Moon, nearly full, shines in Leo this evening. Look for its 1st-magnitude star Regulus a few finger-widths below or lower left of the Moon.

Upper left from Regulus extends the Sickle of Leo. It's about a fist at arm's length tall and is shaped like a backward question mark. Cover the glary Moon with your finger if needed.

A fist or so to the Sickle's lower left, Leo's hindquarters and tail form a long triangle.

■ A moonlit challenge: Bright Sirius shines high in the south on the meridian by about 8 p.m. now. Use binoculars or a wide-field scope at low power to examine the spot 4° south of Sirius (directly below it when it's on the meridian). Four degrees is somewhat less than the width of a typical binocular's or finderscope's field of view. Even through the moonlight, can you see a dim little patch of gray haze there? That's the open star cluster M41. Its total magnitude adds up to 5.0.

Compare your moonlit view of M41 (or at least of its position) with the Moon-free view a few days from now — on March 5th right after dark, and for the two weeks after that.

[M41 and other open clusters in the winter Milky Way not far from Sirius.]

*M41 under Sirius is one of several open clusters in or near winter's Monoceros-Puppis Milky Way. The clusters' apparent sizes are exaggerated here.
Stellarium.*

MONDAY, MARCH 2

■ Full Moon tonight and tomorrow evening. The Moon is exactly full at 7:38 a.m EST on the morning of the 3rd, splitting the difference between the two evenings.

■ A total Eclipse of the full Moon happens before and during dawn Tuesday, mostly for the western part of North America, with the Moon getting low in the western sky. Partial eclipse begins 3:50 a.m. CST March 3rd, 2:50 a.m. MST, 1:50 a.m. PST. Total eclipse runs from 5:04 to 6:03 a.m. CST, 4:04 to 5:03 a.m. MST, 3:04 to 4:03 a.m. PST. Check these times against your sunrise time! The eclipsed Moon sets in the west right around when the Sun rises in the east.

See the March Sky & Telescope, page 48, for much more. Also Bob King's Dawn Delight: Total Lunar Eclipse on March 3rd. Here's aworld map that include the eclipse circumstances for the Pacific, Australia, and the Far East.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3

It's not spring for another 2½ weeks (the equinox is on March 20th this year). But the Spring Star Arcturus seems eager to climb into view. It rises above the east-northeast horizon sometime around 8 p.m. now, depending on both your longitude and latitude.

To see where to watch for its appearance, find the Big Dipper as soon as the stars come out. It's high in the northeast. Follow the curve of its handle down and around to the lower right by a little more than a Dipper-length. That's the spot on the horizon to watch.

By 10 or 11 p.m. Arcturus dominates the eastern sky.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

■ February was Orion's month to stand at its highest in the south in the evening. Now March pushes him westward and spotlights his dog, Canis Major sporting Sirius on his chest, center stage on the meridian.

Sirius is not just the brightest star in our sky after the Sun. At a distance of 8.6 light-years it's also the closest naked-eye star after the Sun for those of us at mid-northern latitudes.

Alpha Centauri is the actual closest star (4.3 light-years), but you have to be farther south to see it. And in the northern sky three dim red dwarfs are closer than Sirius, but these require binoculars or a telescope.

■ The Sirius B challenge. Have you ever even tried for Sirius B, the famous white dwarf? Sirius A and B are still at about the widest apparent separation of their 50-year orbit: 11 arcseconds apart.

You'll want at least a 10-inch scope and a night of really excellent seeing. Keep checking night after night; the seeing makes all the difference for Sirius B. Clean optics help too. Use extreme high power, and look when Sirius is at its very highest in the south as it is these evenings. See the Sirius B hunting tips in Bob King's article Sirius B – A New Pup in My Life.

The Pup is northeast of the Dog Star and 10 magnitudes fainter: one ten-thousandth as bright. As Bob recommends, put a homemade occulting bar across your eyepiece's field stop: a tiny strip of aluminum foil held to the field stop with a bit of tape, with one edge crossing the center of the field. Use a pencil point to nudge the edge of the foil into sharp focus as you look through the eyepiece, holding the eyepiece up to a bright wall indoors.

In the telescope, rotate the eyepiece so you can hide dazzling Sirius A just behind the strip's northeastern edge.

If a diffraction spike gets in the way, rotate the telescope's tube if you can.

[Sirius A and B resolved. With orbit diagram.]

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