An atmospheric reentry of a Russian SL-4 rocket body created a spectacular show over the Middle Eastern countries late Monday, October 16, 2017, witnessed and recorded by numerous people. The event lasted more than 55 seconds and was visible from Iraq, Bahrain, UAE…
October 2017 has two meteor showers, one minor – Draconids, on October 8, and one major – Orionids, on October 21 and 22. Draconids will be mostly blocked by the nearly full moon, but Orionids will present an interesting opportunity as the crescent Moon will set…
There are no major (Class I) meteor shower peaks during this month. Instead, we have two minor ones (Class II), Aurigids on September 1 and September Epsilon Perseids on September 9, with an estimated number of meteors per hour of 6 and 5, respectively. We'll…
A large fireball was observed and recorded over the South African city of Krugersdorp at 16:59 UTC (18:59 SAST) on August 22, 2017. The object had a bright blue-green color and lasted for more than 4 seconds. It was recorded by Jan Breytenbach over Krugersdorp but…
A total solar eclipse will take place on August 21, 2017, starting over the Pacific Ocean at 15:46 UTC (08:46 PDT) and moving inland over the continental United States. Although 14 US states will witness the total solar eclipse, regions seeing, at least, a partial…
A partial lunar eclipse will take place on August 7, 2017, with the greatest eclipse occurring at 18:20 UTC. It will be visible from eastern Europe, throughout most of eastern Africa, central Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Australia. This lunar eclipse will begin at…
Solar eclipse chasers, especially those living in the United States, have waited for this month for many years. On August 21, a rare, once-in-a-lifetime event for viewers in the US will make the Moon completely block out the Sun – total solar eclipse, revealing the…
The Earth's annual orbit around the Sun will carry us to our furthest point from the Sun – aphelion – at a distance of 1.02 AU on July 3. Technically speaking, this marks the moment when the Sun appears smaller in the sky than at any other time of year, and when…
Although meteorologists often take summer/winter to start on June 1, northern hemisphere's summer and southern hemisphere's winter will officially begin on June 21 with June Solstice at 04:15 UTC. The Moon will reach its full phase at 13:11 UTC on June 9….
May 2017 brings us Eta Aquarids, an above average meteor shower capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak, in the southern hemisphere. The waxing gibbous moon, however, will block out many of the fainter meteors this year. The Moon will be located…
