Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the Mile High City this week.
March 9:
- 🔭 Catch the Great Red Spot of Jupiter transiting the surface of the gas giant from the perspective of Earth high in the southwestern sky in the constellation Gemini from 10:15 PM until 2:10 AM.
March 10:
- 👀 Look for the waning gibbous Worm Moon near Antares, the heart of the scorpion in the constellation Scorpius low in the eastern sky around 3:15 AM
- 🌖 The waning gibbous Worm Moon reaches apogee, its farthest distance from Earth at 404,384km: 7:00 AM
- 🪐 Jupiter ends its apparent retrograde motion, when it stops appearing to move westward against the background stars and resumes its normal eastward motion, a shift caused by Earth passing it in our faster orbit around the Sun: 21:36 MDT
- 🖥️ AAA Entering the Era of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory with Clare Higgs of UCSC: Free online program via Zoom (Registration required): 5:00 PM
March 11:
- 🎤 Beyond Artemis: Human Expeditions to the Moons of the Solar System with Michael Carrol: Ticketed in-person program at Fiske Planetarium📍: 7:00 PM
- 🖥️ AAA Dark Matter: Ticketed online program via Google Classroom (Registration required): 5:00 PM
- 🌗 Third Quarter Worm Moon: 3:38 AM
- 🌗 Moon at southernmost declination , the point when the Moon reaches its furthest position south of the celestial equator, appearing lower in the sky for observers in the Northern Hemisphere: 2:00 PM
March 12:
- 🖥️ Standley Lake Stargazing Weekly Livestream: Free Online program via Zoom: 6:00PM
March 13 (Dark Sky Weekend / Messier Marathon):
- 🪐 Jupiter reaches northernmost declination, the point when the gas giant reaches its highest position north of the celestial equator in the sky, making it appear especially high for observers in the Northern Hemisphere: 5:00 AM
March 14 (Dark Sky Weekend / Messier Marathon):
- 🔭 Tonight is a great night to head out to the Kline-Dodge Dark Site and do a Messier Marathon: accept the challenge to locate all of the objects from the Messier Catalog — 110 galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters from dusk until dawn. (More info)
March 15 (Dark Sky Weekend / Messier Marathon):
- 🔭 Check out the winter Milky Way’s region rich of open star clusters running through Canis Major, Puppis, and Monoceros. These are part of the Messier Catalog, making them fun to observe together as a group or as part of a larger Messier Marathon.
- Messier 41 – Bright cluster just south of Sirius, with about 100 stars and a noticeable red giant.
- Messier 46 – A rich cluster that appears to contain the planetary nebula NGC 2438 along our line of sight.
- Messier 47 – A bright, loose cluster with widely spaced stars that stands out well.
- Messier 48 – A large open cluster spanning nearly the width of the full Moon.
- Messier 50 – A compact cluster sometimes described as having a heart-shaped pattern.
- Messier 93 – A small, bright cluster whose stars form a fan- or butterfly-like shape.
This Week’s Meteoric Activity:
You can keep track of the activity of meteor showers as well as those beyond the limits of visual observing by visiting the NASA Meteor Shower Portal.
- Anthelion (ANT): 1:00 AM in western Leo: About 1 per hour
- Comae Berenicids (COM): 5:00 AM in southern Coma Berenices: Less than 1 per hour
- February η Draconids (FED): Last hour before dawn in northern Draco: Less than 1 per hour
- α Coronae Borealids (ACB): Last hour before dawn in western Corona Borealis: Less than 1 per hour
- α Antliids (AAN): 2:00 AM in southern Sextans: Less than 1 per hour
- ο Hydrids (OHY): 4:00 AM in southern Hydra: Less than 1 per hour
Check Out These Helpful Guides from DAS:
- Where to Explore the 2026 Denver Night Skies
- When to Explore the 2026 Denver Night Skies
- What to Explore in the 2026 Denver Night Skies
Sky Map
- A pdf map of the night sky can be found at https://www.skymaps.com/skymaps
