StarDate Susitna 3-9-25, by Kathleen Fleming

March 11, 2025 |

For this Susitna Writers’ Voice, Kathleen Fleming has a StarDate Susitna that will let us know what to expect in the night sky through this coming week, including the lunar eclipse on Thursday the 13th. 

This is an artist’s concept of what a total lunar eclipse would look like from the moon, exaggerated for effect. Image is part of a NASA video.

Left image: Looking west at 9pm on Monday 3-10-25, Mercury is about 6 degrees above the flat horizon, Venus is 10 degrees and MUCH brighter. Right image: shows that at 9pm on 3-15 in the Upper Susitna Valley, Mercury will be faint and difficult to see only — after sunset, and only 5 degrees above the flat horizon.  Venus will be only 6.5 degrees above the horizon but so much brighter that it will still be easy to spot.  If your western horizon is indeed low enough, scan with binoculars the area left of Venus. Created using heavens-above.com.

This graphic shows how a lunar eclipse happens, and how big the umbra is at the distance of the moon’s orbit. Nothing is to scale, of course. Graphic from Wikipedia article Lunar Eclipse.