Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.
March 25: Uranus stands south of 14 Tau
The Moon passes 4° north of Jupiter at 8 A.M. EDT. By evening, they are high overhead in Gemini the Twins, now nearly 8° apart as the Moon sits near Pollux, the slightly brighter of the two brothers’ heads. Many observers will see the Moon pass in front of magnitude 3.6 Kappa (κ) Geminorum in an occultation this evening. From Kansas City, the star winks out behind the dark leading limb of our satellite at 11:09 P.M. CDT. If you want to check whether the occultation is visible from your location as well as the time of disappearance, visit the International Occultation Timing Association’s webpage for 2026 bright star occultation predictions and find the city nearest yours.
Earlier in the evening, as darkness falls over the eastern half of the U.S., the large, dark blot of Ganymede’s shadow can be seen on the jovian cloud tops if you’re observing Jupiter with a telescope. The Galilean moon itself is west of Jupiter, closer than Io, also west of the planet. East of Jupiter are Europa (closer) and Callisto. The shadow transit ends shortly before 9:25 P.M. EDT.
But the action isn’t over yet. Watch over the next few hours as Europa closes in on Jupiter from the east. The icy moon finally begins a transit around 1:45 A.M. CDT on the 27th— note the time change, as Jupiter is very low (4° or so) for those along the East Coast. Europa’s transit takes nearly three hours, and its shadow finally appears around 2:20 A.M. PDT on the 27th, after the planet has set for most of the U.S.
Sunrise: 6:53 A.M.
Sunset: 7:19 P.M.
Moonrise: 12:27 P.M.
Moonset: 3:21 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (65%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.
