This is the Saint Louis Science Center’s NIGHT SKY UPDATE for the week of Saturday, March 29, 2025.
Information updated weekly or as needed.
Times given as local St. Louis time this week will be in Daylight Saving Time. For definitions of terminology used in the night sky update, click the highlighted text. If relying on times posted in Universal Time (UT), St. Louis is -5 hours when CDT. Times posted in the Night Sky Update are in the 24-hour format.
Join us for our next star party, Friday, April 4, 2025, held in association with the St. Louis Astronomical Society.
Observing Highlight of the Week
T CrB Nova Update 3/29/2025
If you are still interested in seeing the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis, there is still hope. The nova has not yet occurred meaning we are in a waiting game. It could happen this year or it could happen next year. We will have to wait and see. If you are still interested in this event, the part of the sky the nova will appear in is rising earlier each night. By midnight, the constellation Corona Borealis will be found high in the eastern sky. Spaceweather.com is still posting magnitude estimates from the AAVSO. This is the resource I recommend following to keep up with any changes in the star’s brightness. Current magnitude of the system is 9.8.
The Sun and Moon
The Moon as seen from the International Space Station, on July 31, 2011.
Credit: NASA
Sun
Sunrise is at 06:50 on Saturday, March 29 and sunset is at 19:22 providing a little over 12 hours of daylight. Even after sunset, light from the Sun will dimly illuminate our sky for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. This period is called twilight, which ends around 20:53 this week. For those with a sundial, local noon occurs around 13:06 on March 29, 2025.
Moon
Moonrise for Saturday, March 29, was at 06:51 and moonset occurred at 20:01. The Moon starts the week off at its new moon phase. By the end of the week the Moon will exhibit a waxing gibbous phase with 69% disk illumination. First quarter moon occurs on April 4, 2025, at 21:15 CDT.
International Space Station (ISS) Observing
There are only two passes of ISS visible from St. Louis for the week of March 29. They occur in evening hours. ISS will return to St. Louis skies on April 15, 2025, when we will see it during morning hours. The table below lists the best of these passes that will be seen from St. Louis. If you do not live in the area, you can use https://heavens-above.com/ to set your viewing location and get times for where you are.
Magnitude (Mag): The Measure of brightness for a celestial object. The lower the value is, the brighter the object will be.
Altitude (Alt): The angle of a celestial object measured upwards from the observer’s horizon.
Azimuth (Az): The direction of a celestial object, measured clockwise from an observer’s location with north being 0°, east being 90°, south being 180° and west being 270°.
Detailed information regarding all unmanned exploration of our universe, missions past, present, and planned, can be found at Jet Propulsion Laboratories
The Visible Planets
Looking southwest at 20:30 on March 30, 2025. Credit: Stellarium, EG
This week, two naked eye planets are visible. Mars and Jupiter will be visible shortly after sunset.
Mars
Look for Mars overhead after sunset. It is currently found near the bright stars Castor and Pollux. The current apparition of Mars will continue throughout the rest of 2025. Watch for the Red Planet as it shifts westward through the year. Mars sets around 03:30 this week.
Jupiter
Jupiter will be visible high in the west not long after sunset. Jupiter sets by 00:43, remaining visible up to midnight. Jupiter reaches superior conjunction on June 24, 2025.
Our next Star Party will be held on Friday, April 4, 2025, from 6:30 pm until 9:30 pm
On the first Friday of each month, the St. Louis Astronomical Society and the Saint Louis Science Center will set up a number of telescopes outdoors and be on-hand to answer your questions. Telescope viewing begins once it is dark. Regardless of the weather on April 4, join us indoors in our planetarium theater for our “Monthly Sky Lecture”.
This free, indoor star program will introduce you to the current night sky. Doors open 15 minutes before show time. Once a show is underway, there are no late admissions due to safety issues in the darkened theater.
The St. Louis Astronomical Society helps host the monthly Star Parties at the Saint Louis Science Center. In addition to our nighttime viewings, they also help facilitate our daytime event called Solar Sundays. These daytime viewing sessions occur on the 3rd Sunday of each month. Visit SLAS’s website linked above to learn about other telescope events SLAS hosts around the St. Louis area.
James S. McDonnell Planetarium
Night Sky Update: March 29-April 6, 2025
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