Night Sky Preservation

The goal of the KIRB Night Sky initiative is to provide education, guidance, and programming regarding the importance of dark Night Skies to Real County and the Frio and Nueces Canyons.

Real County is well known for its beauty and natural resources, including the Frio River, Nueces River, rolling hills and stunning vistas—day and night. KIRB works to educate landowners and visitors about the benefits of dark skies for wildlife, humans, and for the promotion of astrotourism. Programs are designed to inform homeowners, businesses, and tourists about ways you can help protect the scenic nightime beauty we sometimes take for granted.

What’s going on in our night sky MARCH 2026?

🌠 Meteor Showers:
There are no active meteor showers easily seen from our latitude. But there is always the stray meteor. Go out and look, you may see satellites, a Starlink train, or the International Space Station (ISS). The best meteor viewing is during a new moon period, March 13-20. April will bring us the Lyrids (4/13-30, peaking 4/21-22) and eta Aquariids.

🌕 Moon & Celestial Neighbors:
March 2–3: The Moon is full and undergoes a total lunar eclipse, visible across North America, with totality lasting about 58 minutes. This “Blood Moon” aligns with the constellation Leo, where the Moon appears during the event.

March 20: A Moon–Venus conjunction places the crescent Moon beside brilliant Venus in the evening sky.

March 26: The Moon–Jupiter conjunction places Jupiter near the First Quarter Moon for several hours of excellent viewing.

All month: The constellation Gemini is prominent, with bright Jupiter shining among its stars

🌑 Moon Phases:
Full Moon: March 3, 2026 — the Worm Moon, associated with the return of earthworms and early spring. This full Moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse.

New Moon: March 19, 2026 — Schedule the week before the new moon for an excellent dark‑sky evening window for stargazing.

☀️ Sunrise & Sunset Times:
Early March (Mar 1): Sunrise ≈ 6:49 am, Sunset ≈ 6:21 pm.

Late March (Mar 31): Sunrise ≈ 6:42 am, Sunset ≈ 7:20 pm after Daylight Saving Time begins March 8.

🪐 Planet Visibility:
Venus: Brilliant in the western evening sky all month, setting about 70 minutes after sunset early in the month and pairing closely with Saturn on March 7–8. It appears again near the crescent Moon on March 20.

Saturn: Very low in the west after sunset; visible near Venus on March 7–8 before sinking into solar glare later in the month.

Jupiter: March’s most dominant planet—bright and high in the southern sky after sunset. It appears in Gemini and meets the Moon on March 25–26.

Mercury: Difficult to see, but early in the month briefly visible very low in the west shortly after sunset during the early‑March “planetary parade.” Best viewed around March 3 with a clear western horizon.

Mars: Not visible — too close to the Sun throughout March.

Uranus & Neptune: Technically present along the ecliptic during the early‑March multi‑planet grouping, but require a telescope.

You can see a lot with your naked eyes or a set of binoculars this March

🌌 Naked‑eye Highlights
In March 2026, the dark places in the Hill Country offers dark skies ideal for spotting bright stellar beacons far beyond our solar system. Rigel, the blue‑white supergiant marking Orion’s foot, shines prominently in the southwest after dusk, offering one of the brightest naked‑eye stellar views of the season. Betelgeuse, Orion’s red supergiant shoulder, contrasts vividly with Rigel and remains easy to spot as it drifts westward each evening. Sirius, the brightest star in the entire night sky, gleams low in the southwest and dominates the winter stars still visible early in the month. High overhead, Capella in Auriga provides another striking naked‑eye landmark, forming a brilliant anchor among late‑winter constellations.

Rigel, Sirius, and Capella, along with Pollux in the constellation Gemini, Aldeberan in the constellation Taurus, and Procyon in the constellation Canis Major, form the beautiful “Winter Hexagon”. It is interesting that each of these bright stars are part of a different constellation!

🔭 Binocular Highlights
The Pleiades (M45)—an open cluster packed with hot young stars—glitters beautifully through binoculars. In addition, the including the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), visible as a faint elongated glow with binoculars under our darkest skies.

Take a few nights, if weather permits, to join the “Messier Marathon” March 19–23 or there abouts. It’s an opportunity to scan with your binoculars for dozens of galaxies and clusters viewable each spring.

HAPPY SKYGAZING!

Friends of the night sky business recognition program

WHAT IS IT?

It is a program sponsored by Keep It Real Beautiful and Friends of the Night Sky, endorsed by the Hill Country Alliance, and supported by the Frio Canyon Chamber of Commerce. Its purpose is to recognize businesses and organizations that have Night Sky Friendly outdoor lighting and to encourage others to follow suit.

WHY IS IT?

The goal is to protect and preserve the treasured natural resource that is the Hill Country’s starry nighttime skies. The program encourages the practice of responsible outdoor lighting. Such lighting will prevent light from escaping above the horizon into the nighttime sky, causing sky glow and glare, forms of light pollution.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR MY BUSINESS?

The starry nighttime sky is a natural wonder to be enjoyed by all who live in or visit Real County and all our river canyons.
There are almost 4 million people who live in light polluted urban and suburban areas, within short driving distances, where it is almost impossible to view pristine nighttime skies. For many of these people, an overnight trip to our area to see the stars would be a treat. “Heads in beds” means more business for our motels, B&Bs, restaurants, service stations, and other commercial entities as well as for our state park. Protecting our night sky from light pollution ensures this valuable resource will endure.
You can advertise as “Night Sky Friendly,” attracting even long distance and international travelers who are seeking the natural beauty of dark night skies.

HOW CAN MY BUSINESS PARTICIPATE?

All outdoor lighting on your premises is shielded and aimed downward so that no light trespasses beyond the business property boundary or above the horizontal plane into the sky. Lighting is directed only when and where it is needed for the task at hand. Motion detector lighting and extinguished lighting after hours is preferred.
Lighting is not so bright as to cause glare or to reduce visibility in unlit areas.
The color of outdoor lighting is amber or warm white versus bright white or blue. Lighting with a color temperature of less than or equal to 3000 Kelvin is ideal.
Any business or organization in the area can request that the Friends of the Night Sky team conduct an evaluation of its outdoor lighting to determine if it qualifies for recognition and/or to recommend lighting solutions for problematic fixtures.

HOW WILL MY BUSINESS BE RECOGNIZED?

A business or organization that meets the criteria listed above receives recognition as a Night Sky Friendly Business with:

A Certificate of Merit presented by Keep It Real Beautiful (KIRB) and Friends of the Night Sky for display inside your business.
A window decal display to announce to customers your recognition as a Night Sky Friendly Business
The right to use the Night Sky Friendly Business logo in your advertising, including on your website
A listing as a night sky friendly business with a link to your business’s website on the websites of the Frio Canyon Chamber of Commerce, Keep it Real Beautiful, and the Hill Country Alliance
Special recognition at any Night Sky events held by the Keep It Real Beautiful/Friends of the Night Sky
Publicity in local media outlets