The Sky for March 2026

What is a meteor shower?

Well, first, a meteor is a flash of light we see in the sky, often called a “shooting star” or “falling star”. They’re not stars at all, though – they are tiny pieces of space dust crashing into the Earth as it orbits the Sun. When the dust (called a “meteoroid” when it’s still out in space) hits the Earth’s atmosphere, friction causes the dust to burn up and create a tunnel of glowing air as it travels.

There’s dust scattered throughout space, left over from the formation of the solar system, and so on any given night you might see a meteor or three. If you were in perfectly dark skies and watched the entire sky for an entire hour, you might see a half-dozen meteors an hour on any given night.

But just like dust in your house, there are places in space where there is more dust than average. One of those places is in the orbit of a comet. A comet is a small body made of dust and ice that orbits the Sun. If a comet’s orbit brings it close enough to the Sun, it starts to melt and the dust forms a long tail behind it. This dust fades away fairly quickly, but it’s still out there in the comet’s orbital path. If that orbital path comes close to the Earth’s orbit, we can run through a big clump of comet dust on the same night each year. That’s a meteor shower.

What are the Geminids?

The Geminid meteor shower is an annual event that peaks around December 13-14 each year. It’s an unusual meteor shower, in that it’s not in the orbit of a comet, but of an asteroid: asteroid (3200) Phaethon. (Maybe Phaethon used to be a comet but the ice has all melted, so it’s just dust. We’re not sure.)

Phaethon has an unusual orbit that takes it very close to the Sun, closer then Mercury, before looping out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Phaethon’s orbit also comes in at a steep angle compared to the rest of the planets, which is one of the reasons the Geminids are a great meteor shower (more on this later).

On an average year, you can expect to see a meteor a minute or so in the couple of hours between 11 pm and 1 am local time. That’s pretty good – most “meteor showers” are really more of a trickle, with only a dozen or so meteors per *hour*. So, one a minute is a “shower”, relatively speaking. And, almost alone among meteor showers, the peak of activity occurs in the middle of the night, around local midnight, when the constellation Gemini is high in the sky. This is because of the high angle that the meteor orbits make with the plane of the Earth’s orbit. Most meteor showers don’t peak until just before dawn, so they are much less convenient to watch.

How do I see the Geminids in 2025?

Meteor observing involves a lot of laying around and just looking at the sky. You don’t need (or want!) a telescope for this – meteors can happen anywhere in the sky, so you need the wide field of view that your unaided eyes provide. Your most useful piece of equipment is a reclining lawn chair so you can lay back and not be on the cold ground. A blanket or three and a thermos of a warm beverage is also a good addition.

The most important thing is to travel to a location where there are no competing lights, and to keep your eyes dark-adapted. Pick a spot in advance: a park, a parking lot, or some other place where you’re not on private property. (DO NOT just pull over to the side of the highway – not only will passing headlights ruin your night vision, but wandering around in the dark near the road is dangerous.)

Once you find a dark spot, you need to keep it dark. That means to turn off your car. This is especially important in a place where other observers have gathered, since your headlights will ruin everyone else’s  view if you leave them on. And, put your phone away. Our eyes take a good five or more minutes to get fully dark-adapted, but as soon as you see a bright-ish light, they immediately flip to “day” mode and you need to re-adapt all over again. Every time a phone turns on in your field of view, even just for a second, you will miss about 10%-15% of the meteors that hour. Don’t drive out of town in the cold and then waste your time doomscrolling instead of watching the sky!

When is the best time to look?

The Geminids slowly ramp up through December to their peak on the 13th-14th, and then decline over the next week or so. Best views will be between about 11pm and 2am on the night of Saturday, December 13th, 2025 and into the morning of Sunday, December 14th, 2025. During peak times, the rate from a really dark sky could be as high as 120 or more an hour – that’s an average of two every minute! Earlier in the evening and after the peak, rates will be about half that number. The night before and the night after will still have reasonable activity, perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 the numbers seen at the peak (so, 40-60 per hour). Before and after that, the rates decline sharply. So, we really want clear skies from December 12-15 this year!

(I guess that should be made clear: if it’s cloudy, you won’t see any, since meteors all burn up much higher in the atmosphere than the clouds.)

Remember, any lights you can see will turn off your eyes’ night mode. So, turn off your car headlights or cover them with a blanket. Keep your phone hidden so you don’t lose your darkvision every time a notification comes in. Dress warmly – a clear December night in Manitoba is going to be frigid! Make sure you are in a place where you are secure. Make sure your vehicle is up to winter driving, and that someone knows where you are if your car doesn’t start. (Don’t depend on a cell phone to call for help – cell service tends to fade in remote areas, and batteries die quickly in the cold.)

The Geminids are a great skywatching event – a relaxed event, no specialized equipment required, and you get to sit and watch the stars while waiting for the next meteor. You can even count meteors for science to help astronomers understand the swarm of particles from this unusual asteroid.

If the weather is clear, we will be attempting a live-stream of the Geminid meteor shower on Saturday night. Follow the Manitoba Museum on Facebook or YouTube to watch – if you “like” or “subscribe” you’ll get a notification when the stream goes live.

Clear Skies!

Mercury is invisible early in the month as it passes near the Sun, but reappears in the morning sky just before sunrise for the second half of August this year. The closest planet to the Sun never rises very high above the horizon before the Sun does, so you will need a clear horizon and good timing to catch it. See calendar entries below.

Venus begins the month rising about 3 a.m. local time, but slowly slips sunward over the course of the month. It passes less than 1 degree from Jupiter on August 12 and is near the Beehive star cluster in Cancer the Crab at the end of the month. See various calendar entries below for details.

Mars is in the constellation Virgo, so low in the west-southwest that you probably won’t see it. It doesn’t slip behind the Sun until January 2026, but right now the angle of its orbit keeps it very low from northern latitudes like Manitoba. (Despite all the hype of supposed “big events” you might have heard about online.)

Jupiter rises in the northeast before 4 a.m. local time at the beginning of the month, and about 2 a.m. by the end of August. It begins to brighter Venus’ lower left, drawing closer and closer each morning until their closest approach on the morning of August 12, 2025. After this, Jupiter rises higher each morning as it moves slowly among the stars of Gemini.

Saturn rises about 11 p.m. at the beginning of August, and by 9 p.m. at month’s end, finally becoming high enough for reasonably-timed observations. Saturn’s rings are tilted almost edge-on to our line of sight, making them difficult to see in a telescope. Neptune is nearby for most of the summer (see below). The waxing gibbous Moon is nearby on the morning of August 12 (see below).

Uranus is in the morning sky a few degrees below the famous Pleaides star cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters). It is too faint to easily see without binoculars, and even a telescope shows it as a faint dot that looks just like the other faint stars. A detailed star-charting app like Stellarium is required to track it down.

Neptune is in the same binocular field of view as Saturn for the entire month, but since it is even farther than Uranus it is invisible without optical aid. Neptune requires good binoculars or a small telescope to even spot, and a large telescope to make it out as anything more than a faint dot. Again, a detailed star chart like those produced by Stellarium is required to tell which tiny “dot” is Neptune.

Of the five known dwarf planets, only (1) Ceres is close enough to be seen in binoculars or a small telescope. In August, Ceres is below and to the left of Saturn and Neptune, wandering among the stars of the constellation Cetus the Whale. You’ll need a chart like the one in the RASC Observer’s Handbook or an app like Stellarium to track it down. Ceres will be easier to spot in the fall as it gets closer and brighter.

All times are given in the local time for Manitoba: Central Daylight Time (UTC-5). However, most of these events are visible across Canada at the same local time without adjusting for time zones.

If there’s a little box to the left of the date, you can click on it to see a star map of that event! All images are created using Stellarium, the free planetarium software.

Friday, August 1, 2025: First Quarter Moon

Sunday, August 3, 2025: The waxing gibbous Moon is just below the bright red star Antares, very low in the south this evening and into Monday morning.

Monday, August 11, 2025: A busy night for observers. The waxing gibbous Moon is above and to the right of Saturn as they rise about 10 p.m. CDT. Over the course of the night, the Moon will move closer to Saturn as the pair rise higher and move across the sky. This showcases two of the most important sky cycles: the rising of Saturn and the Moon is caused by the Earth’s rotation every day, while the Moon gets closer to Saturn due to the Moon’s orbital motion around the Earth every month.

Also tonight and into tomorrow, the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak intensity – but this isn’t a great year for it. The nearly-full Moon’s light will overwhelm most of the faint meteors. Best time will be to in the early morning hours of the 12th, in the period from about 2am until dawn. During this period you might see a dozen or two meteors per hour, if you are in a dark sky and watch the sky continuously with no breaks. If you are up this late/early, watch for Venus and Jupiter’s conjunction just before dawn (see below).

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 (morning):  The peak of the Perseid meteor shower is offset by the bright Moon, but you can still expect a meteor every minute or two if you’re patient. Jupiter and Venus rises in the north-northeast about 3:20 a.m. local time, less than 1 degree apart and probably tinted orange by any smoke on the atmosphere.

They will rise higher and be due east by dawn.

Saturday, August 16, 2025 (morning): The Last Quarter Moon is approaching the Pleaides star cluster, growing closer each hour until the sun rises.

The morning of the 16th is probably your first chance to spot Mercury this season, early in the morning in the east, below and left of much brighter Venus and Jupiter. The chart shows the view at 5:45 a.m. local time; the blue circle represents the field of view shown in typical household binoculars, which will definitely help in tracking down the elusive inner planet. Over the next several days Mercury will rise higher and get brighter and easier to see.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 (morning): The waning crescent moon forms a ragged line with Venus and Jupiter in the pre-dawn sky.

Also look for Mercury very low to the horizon just before dawn.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 (morning): The waning crescent has passed Jupiter and Venus, now forming a right triangle with the two bright planets in the morning sky. Above and to the left at much fainter Castor and Pollux, the brightest stars in the constellation of Geminin the Twins.

Also look for Mercury very low to the horizon just before dawn.

Thursday, August 21, 2025 (morning): A razor-thin crescent Moon stands above Mercury as the dawn sky brightens. Look low in the east-northeast as the sky brightens. The chart to the right shows the view at 5:45 a.m. CDT; the blue circle indicates the field of view of typical household binoculars.

Saturday, August 23, 2025: New Moon

Sunday, August 31, 2025: First Quarter Moon

Satellites are becoming extremely common sights in the hours after sunset and before dawn. Appearing as a moving star that takes a few minutes to cross the sky, they appear seemingly out of nowhere. These range from the International Space Station and Chinese space station Tianhe, which have people living on them full-time, to remote sensing and spy satellites, to burnt-out rocket parts and dead satellites. These can be predicted in advance (or identified after the fact) using a site like Heavens Above by selecting your location.