Moon Phases
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Waxing Gibbous 96% illuminated
Rise: 6:01 PM
Set: 5:47 AM
Eye on the Night Sky, April 1, 2026
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
Today:
This evening, almost exactly as the Sun sets, the Full “Pink” Moon rises in the east. The Moon is perfectly Full a few hours later, at 10:12 PM EDT. This Full Moon is known as the “Pink” Moon after the wild pink ground phlox, native to areas farther south than here. Later this evening, as the Moon climbs higher into the east, the star Spica trails to the lower left, preparing to be the Moon’s companion tomorrow night.
Thursday:
The waning Gibbous Moon still appears Full to our human eyes, and gains a celestial companion this evening. The star Spica sits barely above the Moon as they rise near 8:30 this evening. Interestingly, the Moon’s orbit brings it by the same stars every 27 days and 8 hours, which means this pair has another rendezvous on April 29th.
Friday:
The waning Moon delays its rising until after 9 o’clock, this evening, permitting you to see the more subtle section of the Milky Way that remains in the background behind the brilliant stars of Orion and company in the southwest. Looking between the two Dog stars, and continuing to the right between Orion and the planet Jupiter, you’ll see its faint, vaporous band of light, composed of countless, extremely distant stars.
Start Chart:
Total Lunar Eclipse
The Moon passes into the Earth’s shadow early Tuesday morning, March 3rd, 2026.
The Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow late at night on Tuesday, March 3rd, just as twilight increases. By the time the Moon is fully eclipsed, it becomes difficult to see in the brightening twilight, and it sets only 20 minutes after the eclipse is total.
The Earth’s rotation causes the stars, as well as the Moon, to rise in the east and set in the west. The Moon’s orbital motion, however, goes the opposite way, with the Moon actually moving from west to east, but much, much more slowly. This means the Moon’s expected motion, lowering toward the western horizon, comes from the Earth’s rotation. The Moon’s actual orbital motion causes it to move into the Earth’s shadow from lower right to upper left. This explains why the shadow starts on the Moon’s upper left, and progresses to the lower right.
Lunar eclipses aren’t rare, but they are also not frequent. The next Total Lunar Eclipse visible here is in June 2029, followed by another in December of 2029.
This program is a partnership between the Fairbanks Museum and Vermont Public.