Night After Night, the Moon Drifts On

Dennis Mammana
Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:00:00 -0800
Lifestyle

Week of February 22-28, 2026

The moon returns to our evening sky this week. If you step outside as darkness falls, you can watch as it changes its phase — from a crescent in the west, to a quarter phase in the south at sunset, and to a gibbous phase in the southeastern sky.

You'll also notice, as I described last week, that its journey takes it through the constellations of the zodiac. Well, not really "through" them, of course. The moon lies considerably closer to us than the stars, and it only appears along the same line of sight as certain constellations.
Updated: Tue Feb 17, 2026

Week of February 22-28, 2026

The moon returns to our evening sky this week. If you step outside as darkness falls, you can watch as it changes its phase — from a crescent in the west, to a quarter phase in the south at sunset, and to a gibbous phase in the southeastern sky.

You'll also notice, as I described last week, that its journey takes it through the constellations of the zodiac. Well, not really "through" them, of course. The moon lies considerably closer to us than the stars, and it only appears along the same line of sight as certain constellations.

There's nothing unusual about this progression. It happens every month or so because the moon orbits the Earth. To complete its 360-degree loop around our planet, the moon must drift about 12 or 13 degrees eastward every night, and you can predict roughly where it will appear on successive nights.

Make a fist and hold it at arm's length; it will appear about 10 degrees across from thumb to little finger. Now hold out just your thumb at arm's length; this is approximately 2 degrees wide. And your little finger, also at arm's length, appears about 1 degree across. So, by using these parts of your hand, you can predict approximately where the moon will appear on the following night. The illustration I've included shows the moon's path until March 1.

What about March 2? You can also guess where the moon will lie then, and that will be one night you won't want to miss seeing it. That's because the moon will pass through the Earth's shadow and will experience an eclipse.

It should surprise no one that the Earth casts a shadow; every solid body illuminated by a light source does. What may surprise many is that it appears every evening. I know you've seen it low against the eastern horizon around sunset — an immense purple haze, bordered on top by a fringe of pink. Many folks think this is smog, but it's the shadow of our planet being projected through the atmosphere.

This shadow also extends millions of miles into space, and on the night of March 2 and morning of March 3, the full moon will pass through it, and many skywatchers in North America will experience a total lunar eclipse.

Now you might wonder, if this progression of the moon's position along the zodiac happens monthly, why doesn't the moon enter the Earth's shadow every month? Well, that's because its orbit around the Earth is tilted some 5 degrees to our orbit around the sun, so the full moon doesn't always line up with the shadow. Sometimes it passes above it and sometimes below. But every six months, the moon's path takes it at least partially through our planet's shadow, and there's a lunar eclipse.

To see an eclipse, however, the moon must appear in our sky at the right time. That's not always the case, but on the night of March 2 and the morning of March 3, it will be for much of North America.

I'll tell you more about this upcoming lunar eclipse next week, so stay tuned!

On the night of March 2 and morning of March 3, many skywatchers in North America will experience a total lunar eclipse.