Calendar
To celebrate the launch of our website, we wanted to add a bonus to our supporters. An astronomical calendar with all the events you can still catch and watch this year to take your first steps into the world of astronomy. So grab a pair of binoculars, a telescope or nothing but your own eyes and a good friend to keep you company to see all of these cool celestial events!
June
June 21 - New Moon. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky.
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June 21 - Annular Solar Eclipse. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened Moon.
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June 20 - June Solstice.
July
July 5 - Full Moon.
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July 5 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth's partial shadow or penumbra. During this type of eclipse, the Moon will darken slightly but not completely.
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July 14 - Jupiter at Opposition. The giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons. A medium-sized telescope should be able to show you some of the details in Jupiter's cloud bands. A good pair of binoculars should allow you to see Jupiter's four largest moons, appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet.
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July 20 - New Moon.
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July 20 - Saturn at Opposition. Closest approach to Earth, best time to see. You can see it better with binoculars and maybe spot some of its moons! Grab a medium telescope to see the famous rings as well up close!
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July 22 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation.
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July 28, 29 - Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. The Delta Aquarids is an average shower that can produce up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by comets Marsden and Kracht.
August
August 3 - Full Moon.
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August 11, 12 - Perseids Meteor Shower. The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862. Perseids are so bright and numerous that it should still be a good show. The best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus but can appear anywhere in the sky.
September
September 2 - Full Moon.
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September 11 - Neptune at Opposition. Up for a challenge? Grab a telescope and try to spot the most distant planet of our solar system on our closest approach to it!
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September 17 - New Moon.
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September 22 - September Equinox.
October
October 1 - Full Moon.
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October 1 - Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation.
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October 7 - Draconids Meteor Shower. The Draconids is a minor meteor shower producing only about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was first discovered in 1900. The Draconids is an unusual shower in that the best viewing is in the early evening instead of early morning like most other showers.
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October 13 - Mars at Opposition. The red planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.
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October 16 - New Moon.
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October 21, 22 - Orionids Meteor Shower. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Halley, which has been known and observed since ancient times.
October 29, 30 - Southern Taurids Meteor Shower. The Southern Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. This shower is, however, famous for producing a higher than normal percentage of bright fireballs.
October 31 - Full Moon.
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October 31 - Uranus at Opposition. The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.
November 10 - Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation.
November 11, 12 - Northern Taurids Meteor Shower. The Northern Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour.
November
November 15 - New Moon.
November 16, 17 - Leonids Meteor Shower. The Leonids is an average shower, producing up to 15 meteors per hour at its peak. This shower is unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001.
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November 30 - Full Moon.
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November 30 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.
December
December 13, 14 - Geminids Meteor Shower. The Geminids is the king of the meteor showers. It is considered by many to be the best shower in the heavens, producing up to 120 multicolored meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, which was discovered in 1982.
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December 14 - New Moon.
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December 14 - Total Solar Eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the Sun, revealing the Sun's beautiful outer atmosphere known as the corona.
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December 21 - December Solstice.
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December 21 - Rare Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Last one happened in the year 2000.
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December 21, 22 - Ursids Meteor Shower. The Ursids is a minor meteor shower producing about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1790.
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December 30 - Full Moon.