There was a rare and beautiful occurrence in the sky in March. Did you notice?

I’m no astronomer, and I don’t pretend to be the most avid sky watcher. I’m not one to “see” constellations — I have trouble deciphering any star patterns beyond the Big and Little Dippers and Orion. Nevertheless, I love to watch the nighttime sky.

Some of my most powerful memories are celestial: as a child, sitting on the front steps watching for “shooting stars” with my brother, and standing in awe of the magical green glow of the aurora borealis right in my own back yard. And not so long ago, on a clear night on a beach in Maine, reveling in being able to see the Milky Way —  something that has dropped from sight here amid Connecticut’s light pollution.

I read the “Sky Watch” report in The New York Times every Sunday, post it on my bulletin board as a reminder to head outside to see the show. I always have high hopes, but it’s hit or miss. Sometimes I just can’t pinpoint the important luminaries.

But last week, a mesmerizing phenomenon was impossible to miss. In the twilight-blue western sky, just after sunset, Jupiter and Venus lined up with a stunning crescent moon. The planets were so bright, they outshined fog and urban lights; Venus was even visible in daylight. And there was a spectacular display of  “Earthshine” — the pale glow of the unlit part of the crescent moon, a result of light reflected from Earth. The moon was a thin sliver of light holding a ghostly gray sphere.

I snapped photo after photo, even though my camera doesn’t do well in low-light situations. I was not alone. A global community was watching the sky that night and posting photos on Earthsky — from the United States, France, Poland, South Africa and the U.K., to name a few — a  reminder that wherever we are on Earth, whoever we are, we gaze upon the same moon.

April  will be another great month for watching planets. Four of the five visible (to the unaided eye) planets — Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn — can be seen at nightfall for most of the month in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The other visible planet, Mercury, will be difficult to view in the Northern Hemisphere, since it is in the glare of morning twilight. But for the Southern Hemisphere, Mercury rises in the east before the onset of dawn in that part of the world.

And mark your calendar for a true once-in-a-lifetime event: the transit of Venus on June 5–6. During the transit, Venus will pass directly in front of the sun from Earth’s perspective.  Though it won’t be as dramatic as a total solar eclipse (Venus will appear as a small, slowly moving black sphere — do not watch it without proper eye protection!), its significance is in its rarity. There won’t be another transit of Venus until December 2117.  The entire hemisphere of Earth facing the sun will get to see at least part of the planet’s crossing. The entire transit will be visible from eastern Asia, eastern Australia, New Zealand and the western Pacific, as well as Alaska, northern Canada and most of Greenland.

So wherever your travels take you, keep an eye on the sky — and reflect on how miniscule our human hubbub on Earth seems when viewed against this enormous celestial backdrop.

— Janice Hecht, senior editor