March Milky Madness

The traditional beginning of “Milky Way season” in the northern hemisphere is March. This early in the year, the “galactic core” starts to come up over the horizon — but just barely. The arch remains fairly low in the sky.

But Milky Way season is just too exciting to pass up! At 2:30 in the morning on Saturday, 21 March — the first day of spring in 2026 — my two boys and I piled into the car and headed about 50 miles out of town to escape most of the the light pollution. At first, our galaxy was hidden behind some trees, but eventually we found it!