The night sky in March 2027
Moon phases, meteor showers, planets and the best nights to look up from the UK in March 2027. Times are UK clock time (BST) for central England.
Best nights to watch
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 1 to 11 March: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 28 to 31 March: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
The Moon
Each day shows the Moon's shape in the evening. Shaded days start the best Moon-free dark nights.
Meteor showers
No major shower peaks this month.
Smaller showers peaking this month: Gamma Normids (around 14–15 March, a few an hour at best); Virginids (several weak maxima in March and early April, a few an hour at best).
On any dark night you can also see a few sporadic meteors an hour, which belong to no shower. Rates are usually higher after midnight, when your side of Earth faces the direction it is travelling.
Planets
For the middle of the month. Magnitude measures brightness: the lower the number, the brighter, and anything brighter than about 2 is easy to see from a town.
- Mercury
- Mercury is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Venus
- Venus is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Mars
- Visible all night, from dusk until dawn, highest in the south at about 22:20. Brightness: magnitude −0.8.
- Jupiter
- Visible all night, from dusk until dawn, highest in the south at about 22:00. Brightness: magnitude −2.2.
- Saturn
- Saturn is too close to the Sun to see this month.
Dates for your diary
- Wednesday 17 March: Mercury at greatest western elongation. Mercury is 28° from the Sun, as far as it gets on this swing, and in the morning sky before sunrise. Mercury is always low and hard to spot from the UK; look for it in a clear sky low in the east, 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise.
- Friday 19 March, before dawn: The Moon near Jupiter. The gibbous Moon (86 per cent lit) is about 3° from Jupiter at about 04:00. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
- Friday 19 March, evening: The Moon near Mars. The gibbous Moon (91 per cent lit) is about 4° from Mars at about 19:00. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
March equinox: Saturday 20 March at 20:27 GMT. Day and night are close to equal in length everywhere. Spring begins in the northern hemisphere, by the astronomers' reckoning.
Clocks change: British Summer Time begins at 01:00 GMT on 28 March, when clocks go forward an hour.
Find a safe spot away from street lights, wrap up warmly and lie back so you can see a wide sweep of sky. Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust and keep phone screens dim. No telescope is needed for meteors. Children should always watch with an adult. Never look at the Sun.
Read about every meteor shower, what a radiant and the zenithal hourly rate mean, and how moonlight hides faint meteors. Children can start with how to watch for shooting stars.