Skip to main content

NASA highlights skywatching entertainment for March

What's Up: March 2021 Skywatching Tips from NASA

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is back again with its monthly rundown of skywatching tips.

Recommended Videos

Mars and stars

As JPL is overseeing the current Perseverance rover mission, it’s no surprise that its suggestions on what to look out for in March include the red planet.

For the next few weeks, you’ll be able to spot Mars near the Pleiades star cluster high in the west for a few hours after sunset.

When you spot the salmon-pink dot in the sky, marvel for a moment at the last month’s incredible achievement when NASA landed Perseverance — its most advanced rover to date — on the surface of the faraway planet. And, with Mars firmly in your sights, also consider that two other nations — China and the United Arab Emirates — made it to Mars orbit in recent weeks, with China aiming to land its own rover in the next few months.

NASA JPL

NASA says that if you look closely, you’ll be able to see a couple of other reddish objects forming a line with Mars. One of them is the Aldebaran star, which forms the angry eye of Taurus the bull, and Betelgeuse, the shoulder of Orion.

Jupiter and Saturn

Soon after December’s great conjunction when Jupiter and Saturn appeared super-close in the night sky, the two planets gradually slipped from view as they passed behind the sun (as seen from Earth). Well, this month, they’re back … though you’ll have to rise early to catch them.

Jupiter and Saturn will be visible from the second half of March as they show up in the pre-dawn sky. They won’t appear to be quite as close as they were at the end of last year, but you can still view them together without having to switch your gaze to another part of the sky.

“So, if you’re up early, grab a warm drink and step outside to commune with the largest planets in our solar system,” NASA suggests.

For a full rundown of everything to look out for this month, check out JPL’s comprehensive listing on its website.

And, in case you’re interested in all of the past, present, and future missions to Mars, Digital Trends has you covered.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA astronaut lands back on Earth on his 70th birthday
A Soyuz spacecraft containing NASA's Don Pettit and two cosmonauts on its way back to Earth in April 2025.

Following a seven-month stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two Russian cosmonauts landed safely in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on Sunday local time. The touchdown was on the same day that Pettit, NASA’s oldest serving astronaut, turned 70.

The American astronaut departed the ISS on Friday with Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. 

Read more
NASA astronaut hopes for smooth ride home after his wild ride 22 years ago
NASA astronaut Don Pettit.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is just a couple of days away from returning to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft after a seven-month stay at the International Space Station, making it the perfect time to revisit his astonishing account of his first Soyuz homecoming in 2003.

In the article, Pettit describes in vivid detail the extraordinary experience of hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere at five miles a second, and how malfunctions with Soyuz led to the flight home becoming a kind of test landing for a future crewed mission to Mars.

Read more
NASA’s moon rocket meets its side boosters for crewed Artemis II voyage
NASA's SLS rocket for the Artemis II mission.

NASA’s much-anticipated Artemis II mission has experienced multiple delays in recent years, with the agency currently targeting no earlier than February 2026 for a flight that will send four astronauts on a voyage around the moon.

The Artemis II astronauts, as well as folks following the mission preparations, will be pleased to learn that NASA recently lifted the SLS rocket’s core stage into position, joining it to the two solid rocket boosters in essential work carried out inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.

Read more