What To See In Your Night Sky This Week

Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more.

What To Watch For In The Night Sky This Week: March 7-13, 2022

This week sees a gaggle of planets gather in the pre-dawn hours, culminating in a reasonably close conjunction between Mars and Venus on Saturday. After dark the Moon is getting brighter, but not before the lovely sight of a crescent Moon passing very close to the Pleiades open star cluster—itself one of the most beautiful objects to gaze at in the night sky.

Monday, March 7, 2022: Four morning planets

Get up before sunrise today and look to the southeast and you’ll see a very bright planet—that’s Venus. However, there will be three others shining close by; Mars just to the lower-right of Venus and, closer to the horizon (if you have a clear view that low) to the lower-left, first Saturn, then Mars.

The three planets will appear to be far dimmer than Venus and as the sky brightens you will need binoculars. As the week continues, Mercury will sink and Saturn will rise to be closer to Venus and Mars.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022: A crescent Moon beside the Pleiades

Look to the south after dark tonight and you’ll see a 36%-lit crescent Moon shining close to the best-looking open star cluster to Earth, the Pleiades, in the constellation of Taurus. Get those binoculars out for a great close-up of both (though naked-eye is fine).

Thursday, March 10, 2022: First Quarter Moon

Today sees our satellite reach the First Quarter phase of its 29-day orbit of our planet. At this point it rises at noon and sets at midnight, so it begins to bleach the night sky and make stargazing tricky. That’s worsened by the fact that it’s also now 50% illuminated.

Saturday, March 12, 2022: Venus and Mars in conjunction

If you’re up very early today then look the the southeast before sunrise to see Venus and Mars—the closest two planets to our own—appear close to each other in our sky.

They will be about 4º apart, though Venus will shine much brighter (about 200 times brighter, in fact) in its current apparition as the “Morning Star.”

Star cluster of the week: The Pleiades (M45)

Did you see the Pleiades close to the Moon on Tuesday in the southern night sky? The Pleiades (pronounced “plee-er-deez” or “player-deez”, but also known as the “Seven Sisters” and M45) is the brightest open star cluster in the sky.

Around 444 light-years from the Solar System and around 100 million years old, the Pleiades are therefore little more than newborn stars … if you think on a cosmic scale.

Nebulae of the week: The Great Orion Nebula (M42)

The closest region of our Milky Way galaxy to us where stars are now being born, the Orion Nebula is the brightest nebula and is easily visible to the naked eye to the naked eye after dark each week in the southern sky.

Part of “Orion’s Sword” that hangs down from Orion’s Belt, the Orion Nebula is a diffuse cloud of gas and dust about 1,300 light-years distant.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.