March 1
The Lion Stirs
Sun Position
The Sun sits in Pisces, at a declination near +7°, meaning days are now noticeably longer than nights across the Northern Hemisphere; Southern Hemisphere observers are moving into autumn with shortening afternoons.
Sky Highlight
No major meteor shower or solstice falls on this date. Leo is now well-placed in the eastern sky after dark, with the Sickle asterism rising to a prominent position, a reliable annual marker that spring constellations are taking over the night.
Deep Sky Object
M65 (NGC 3623), a spiral galaxy in Leo, about 35 million light-years away, paired visually with M66 in the Leo Triplet; both fit in a low-power eyepiece field, making this one of the more rewarding galaxy pairs in the spring sky. Best seen from both hemispheres in February through May.
Featured Star
Chertan (θ Leo) is a main-sequence A-type star about 165 light-years away, burning white and steady in the haunches of Leo. It marks a modest point on the lion's body, yet its spectral class A2V puts it among the cleanest white stars the sky offers.
Around This Date
- March 1, 1966The Soviet probe Venera 3 impacted Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet, though its communication systems had failed before arrival.
- March 1, 1982Venera 13 transmitted the first color images from the surface of Venus, surviving the crushing heat and pressure for 127 minutes.
Leo's haunches clear the horizon and March begins in earnest, the lion carrying spring up out of the east.