All five naked-eye planets are visible in March, and there is at least one planet visible at any time through the night.

Venus begins the month in a blaze of glory, dominating the western sky in early March as it has done since November. However, its days are numbered; after over five months brightening our western skies at dusk, we lose Venus as an “evening star” by the middle of March.

If you look for Venus in the west on Wednesday, it will be significantly lower in the sky at dusk than it was only a month ago; only about 20 degrees (the width of two palms held at arm’s length) above the west horizon at 7 p.m. In early March, the planet sets a little before 8:45 p.m.

On Wednesday, look for the crescent moon hanging above Venus. In fact, there had been a young crescent moon next to Venus on the first day of every month since November; but this March 1 is the end of this five-month special engagement, since we lose Venus entirely as an evening object long before April 1.

Because Venus is passing between the Earth and the sun on March 25, in what is called “inferior conjunction,” it’s moving at a good clip from our perspective, and we’ll have it back in our sky before the end of the month, but will now be in the morning sky. Look for Venus rising in the east around 5:40 a.m. on March 31, a few minutes before first light of day.

Interestingly, as Venus leaves our western evening sky around St. Patrick’s Day, it seems to do a tag-team handoff to Mercury, which becomes visible as an evening “star” right as Venus surrenders that role. On March 17, over a perfectly flat horizon such as the ocean, find Venus around 7 p.m., only 5 degrees (the width of two fingers) above the horizon. Then look the left of Venus; standing side by side that night with Venus is the other inner planet, Mercury, shining brightly. Your viewing window is small; both planets set around 7:20 p.m.

Through the rest of March, Mercury will hang low in the west at dusk.

While we lose Venus from the March evening sky, far-fainter Mars just keeps hanging on and on. In early March, Mars is about a third of the way up in the west at dusk; by the end of the month, it’s about quarter of the way up at dusk. It sets at 9:30 p.m. in early March and at 9:15 p.m. at the end. It’s also faint for a naked-eye planet, fading as the month goes by.

On the first of the month, Mars hangs just below the moon, while Venus shines closer down near the horizon.

Through the night hours of March, there is always at least one naked-eye planet in the sky at any given time. Thus on Wednesday, exactly as Mars sets in the west at 9:30 p.m., Jupiter rises in the east. Jupiter is brilliant and will be easy to spot once it clears the horizon. By the end of the month, Jupiter rises in the east at dusk, is due south at 1 a.m. and sets in the west at dawn.

On the night of March 13-14, look for the waning gibbous moon next to Jupiter.

Saturn rises in the south-southeast just after 2 a.m. in early March and is halfway up in the south at dawn. By the end of the month the ringed planet comes up just after midnight and is due south by dawn. The planet shines at 0.5, as bright as a good bright star, and has a distinctive yellow-white hue. Look for a big waning crescent moon next to Saturn early in the morning on March 20.

Since Saturn is not as brilliant as Venus or Jupiter, it does not pop out like those planets do. A good guide is Scorpius the Scorpion, known here as Maui’s Fishhook; if you find that big bold constellation first, Saturn is to the left of the Scorpion. Saturn is in fact about 15 degrees to the left of the bright, ruddy star Antares, the heart of the Scorpion.

March stars

The Southern Cross constellation rises in the south- southeast at midnight in early March, is due south at 2:30 a.m. and sets in the south-southwest at 5 a.m. By the end of March, Crux rises 10 p.m. and is due south just past midnight, setting at 3 a.m. The constellation hugs the horizon during its five-hour passage above the south horizon in the islands; make sure you have a flat horizon such as the sea to view it.

It’s also good to seek the Cross around that time of the night when it’s due south; by then, the brilliant stars Alpha and Beta Centauri, to the left of the Cross, will have risen. These two stars generally pop out far more readily than the stars in the Crux; Alpha Centauri is in fact the third-brightest star in the sky, and Beta Centauri the 11th-brightest. The two stars are also called “The Southern Pointers”; find them, go right, and they will point you to the Gacrux, the top star in the Southern Cross.

The Big Dipper, missing from Hawaii’s evening skies every fall, returns in the March evening sky. Our map’s time (10 p.m. in early March, 8 p.m. at the end) is a good time to spot both the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia.

Our March sky map also shows the False Cross, which rises four hours before the true Southern Cross.

The False Cross is an asterism — a familiar star pattern than is not one of the 88 official constellations. It is in fact constructed from two stars of Vela the Sail, visible on our map, and two stars of Carina the Keel. Carina’s most famous star is Canopus, the second-brightest star in the sky, visible low in the south.

Mike Shanahan is director of visitor experience and planetarium at Bishop Museum. Reach him at mikes@bishopmuseum.org.