234 Ranch Road 1050, Concan, TX 78838, US
Night Skies - Did you know?
What’s going on in our night sky this March?
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). April will bring us the Lyrids (4/13-30, peaking 4/21-22) and eta Aquariids.
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 (Garner State Park, TX):
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.
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 early in the month but 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, Garner State Park 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.
🔭 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 Garner’s dark 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.
For more celestial objects to see, check out the back of a the current month's sky map at the Visitor Center.
Look for a "Sky Tour" program given at the park occasionally when the skies are dark, and the weather is good. You might also listen to the Sky and Telescope's monthly Sky Tour podcast. A good place to observe the heavens at the park is from the west side of the Excess Vehicle Parking Area that's just north of the Visitors Center. Stay clear of the construction work area on the southeast side .
Garner has a planisphere!
Look for it on the southside of the Visitor Center on the outside of the wall that hides the bathrooms. A planisphere is a rotating star chart that helps you identify stars and constellations visible in the night sky at any given time and date. It’s a classic tool for stargazers, especially useful in places like Garner State Park where dark skies make celestial navigation a joy. Dial in your date and time and have it tell you what stars are in the sky and which constellations are rising, setting, or overhead.
🧭 How It Works: A planisphere consists of two discs: the top disc has a window showing part of the sky, and the bottom disc has a star map. You rotate the discs to align the date and time, and the window reveals the stars and constellations visible overhead. It’s calibrated for a specific latitude range, so make sure yours matches your location (Garner State Park is around 29.7°N).
Leakey Highway Maintenance Center improves their lighting! Way to go TXDOT!!!
If you ever drove into Leakey from the north on US 83 at night, you were greeted by the blinding lights of the Texas Department of Transportation's (TXDOT's) maintenance facility. NOT ANY MORE! THANK YOU to Ms. Ginger Lux, the supervisor there, and others helping her in San Angelo, Austin, and elsewhere, TXDOT is now much more welcoming to visitors in the Frio Canyon. THEY HAVE INSTALLED DOWNLIGHTING on their facility. This makes the light bubble over Leakey and the Frio Canyon north of Garner State Park a bit less intrusive. Leakey TXDOT has more work to do, maybe add downlighting to their flagpole. They can be an example to all the TEXAS TXDOT facilities! The towns of Leakey and Concan both still have plenty of lighting challenges to overcome and now... TXDOT is showing the way!
Our skies aren't as dark as they used to be.
New neighbors, new businesses install lights to light up their properties and light up the whole Frio Canyon in the process. From the top of Old Baldy, you can see light domes of Uvalde, Hondo, Bandera, Kerrville, and yes, even Concan and Leakey. Texas towns have their light bubbles. Do us all a favor, let them know, "Illuminate only what is needed with only as much warm light as is needed." If you see lights shining upward or too bright, let's do better. If you want to continue to see stars, tell them you want and expect darker skies. We can make our skies darker.
Count the number of stars in the Little Dipper. If you can see all seven, you have a dark sky. If you can only see the end of the little Dipper's handle, the North Star (Polaris), you have a lit-up city sky.
Help work to making our skies darker.
We want to make Garner an International Dark Skies Park. Unfortunately, it isn't currently dark enough. It takes some work, a real campaign. Educating our visitors, neighbors, students, businesses, and government officials; adding light shields; updating light fixtures; measuring, recording, and reporting light readings and other progress steps; getting the right color LED's; seeing what we can do to make the skies dark again. Want to get involved in Dark Skies? Use the "Contact us" form at the bottom of the home page or call 830-232-5999.
Here is a YouTube link to an interesting presentation on keeping our skies dark in west Texas given by Steven Hummel to the Houston Astronomical Society members. It shows how the National Park Service is mapping our dark skies and measuring not just the darkness overhead but the intensity and spectrum of light all around that is being added to that of the stars, moon, planets, and weather amounts. Also note that the oil and gas industry has reduced its foot print in the Pecos area. Some installations reduced their sky glow 98%. Can we do this in the Frio Canyon as well?
You can help educate others to keep our skies dark.
Spread the word, set an example. Shine light only when and where you need it. Only shine as much as you need. Use the warmest color light to minimize light scattering. If light is needed for security or emergency purposes, use video or motion activated lighting.
Do we really need a blinding flood light lighting the heavens at every barn, parked car, business sign, steeple, or flag?
Here are a few links to answer this question:
The International Dark Sky Association's (IDA's) webpage of outreach materials.
https://darksky.org/resources/
DarkSky Texas (IDA's Texas chapter)
https://darkskytexas.org/common-sense-solutions-resources/
Hill Country Alliance webpage on preserving the night skies
https://hillcountryalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021_THC_NightSkies_Paper_FYI.pdf
Night Sky Month
October was Night Sky Month and will be again next year. Check out our 2025 Night Sky poster. Add it to a yearly collection beginning in 2019. Write to info@friendsofgarner.org for poster information.
Friends of Garner has a telescope
While the scope might not be a large spectacular instrument, it generates oohs and ahs when viewing Jupiter, Saturn, or the moon up in the Garner night skies.
Several astronomy clubs come to view the skies above Garner. Check the park's calendars for other star parties, often held on a warm Saturday night around the occurrence of a new moon when skies are at their darkest.
We can offer sessions to let members get familiar with this and other telescopes. After a checkout, take the scope home or to a campsite, host a park star party, or to outreach events outside the park.
Friends of Garner
Coming events:
New Playground Cover in Shady Meadows Area
Dances 3/7-14, 3/17-21
March 11, 2026, Business Meeting, 5:00 p.m., Garner State Park Visitor Center.
Night skies in March
Spring Break - Volunteers needed for Hayrides