2018 - astronomical events ☄
happy (late) new year, everyone! this year’s gonna be very interesting, so keep your eyes skyward for some really cool celestial events that you won’t want to miss! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
january 31: total lunar eclipse; super moon; blue moon. today the moon’s orbit fell perfectly in line so that the earth completely hid the sun from the moon, temporarily only letting the longest (red) wavelengths shine on the moon as filtered through the atmosphere and back to earth. at only about 223,000 miles (350,000km) this moon was a supermoon, as well as the second full moon in january, making it a ‘blue’ moon as well.
february 15: partial solar eclipse. visible from part of antarctica to the southern tip of south america, the new moon of february will partially block the sun’s rays from the earth.
march 31: blue moon. this will be the second full moon of march, making it a blue moon.
april 16-25: lyrids meteor shower. peaking on april 22nd, this meteor shower is located in the constellation Lyra near its brightest star, Alpha Lyrae, or Vega.
may 6-7: eta aquarid meteor shower. this meteor shower is one of two showers created from debris left by halley’s comet. this shower is most visible early morning on may 6th, just before dawn.
july 27-28: total lunar eclipse. this eclipse will be completely visible from much of africa, india, antarctica, and western europe, and partially visible from the surrounding continents, including australia. totality is expected to last 103 minutes.
august 12-13: perseids meteor shower. meteor activity is expected to peak very early morning on august 13. they appear to hail from the direction of the constellation Perseus, and originate from debris created by the swift-tuttle comet.
october 2-november 7: orionids meteor shower. hailing from the constellation Orion, this shower is the most prolific one associated with halley’s comet. the shower will peak between october 21-22, showing up to 20 visible meteors every hour.
october 8: draconids meteor shower. a new moon this night allows maximum visibility of the meteors hailing from the constellation Draco, created from debris of the comet giacobini-zinner.
november 6-30: leonids meteor shower. the leonids, hailing from the constellation Leo and the comet Tempel-Tuttle, will peak around november 17. in total, the shower may deposit 12 or 13 tons of comet particles across the entire planet. sadly, that doesn’t mean they’ll be large enough to look for - the biggest may only be a centimeter across before their impact with the earth’s surface at 72 kilometers per second!
december 4-13: geminids meteor shower. this is the last major meteor shower of the year, and one of the only to not originate from a comet. the gemenids hail from the constellation Gemini near Castor, and are comprised of debris from the object 3200 Phaetheon, an asteroid with a rock comet orbit. the showers will peak around the morning of december 14. up to 160 meteors can be seen per hour under optimal conditions, and this rate has been thought to be increasing every year.
