Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, March 5 and 6, 2025, written by Alan French
This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Wednesday and Thursday, March 5 and 6, 2025, written by Alan French.
The Sun rises at 6:24 A.M. on Wednesday and sets at 5:50 P.M. On Thursday it rises at 6:22 A.M. and sets at 5:51 P.M. Thursday gained 20 minutes, 11 seconds of daylight compared to last Thursday.
The Moon was new last Thursday evening and is will reach first quarter late this Thursday morning. On Wednesday at 7 P.M. look for a 42% sunlit Moon high in the southwest. Bright Jupiter will be just 8 degrees to the left of the Moon. During the night the Moon’s eastward motion will bring it closer to Jupiter. By midnight, with the pair just over 11 degrees
above the west northwestern horizon, Jupiter will be just over 6 degrees to the left of the Moon. The Moon will set at 1:23 A.M. Thursday.
On Thursday at 7:00 P.M. a 53% sunlit Moon will be 72 degrees above the southwestern horizon, with bright Jupiter 9 degrees below the lunar orb. Reddish Mars will be 27 degrees east of the Moon.
These are good nights to catch our innermost planet, Mercury, in the evening sky just after sunset. Mercury, being closest to the Sun, never gets very high in our night skies and only makes brief excursions into the morning sky just before sunrise or the evening sky after sunset. There are good nights to catch it in the evening sky 30 to 45 minutes after sunset. My wife and I have found it, with cloud free western skies, visible by eye 30 minutes after sunset, and easier to spot about 15 minutes later when twilight has faded and is less intrusive. You will need a spot with a good view to the west.
Start looking at 6:20 P.M. On Wednesday brilliant Venus, at magnitude -4.5, will be 20 degrees above the western horizon. Mercury, at magnitude -0.6, will be 11 degrees high and just under 4 degrees farther south. If sky conditions or your eyes prevent you from spotting Mercury, try scanning with binoculars. (Focus on the Moon or Venus first.) By
6:35 the sky will be darker and Mercury should be easier to spot by eye. It will still be 8 ½ degrees above the horizon.
Thursday night at 6:20 Venus will be 19 degrees high and still at magnitude -4.5. Mercury will be 11 ½ degrees high and will have faded one-tenth of a magnitude to -0.5. Mercury will be just over 8 degrees away from Venus. If you cannot see Mercury by eye and the skies are nice and clear, try again at 6:35. It will then be 9 degrees above the horizon.
In another week, Mercury will have faded to magnitude +1.0, losing another magnitude and a half, and be harder to spot against evening twilight.