April 1 - M104 well placed for observation. The Sombrero galaxy (M104, NGC 4594) will be well placed for observation. It will reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight local time. At a declination of -11°37', it is easiest to see from the...
April 01, 2019
March 1 - Close approach of the Moon and Saturn - 18:28 UTC. The Moon, 25 days old, and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 0°18' of each other. The Moon will be at mag -10.8, and Saturn at mag 0.4, both in the constellation Sagittarius. The...
March 01, 2019
February 2 - Close approach of the Moon and Saturn - 07:05 UTC. The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 0°37' of each other. The Moon will be 27 days old. The Moon will be at mag -9.5, and Saturn at mag 0.5, both in the constellation...
February 01, 2019
January 1 - Conjunction of the Moon and Venus - 21:49 UTC. The Moon and Venus will share the same right ascension, with the Moon passing 1°16' to the north of Venus. The Moon will be 25 days old. The Moon will be at mag -10.7, and Venus at mag -4.5, both in...
January 01, 2019
December 2 - 69P/Taylor reaches its brightest. Comet 69P/Taylor is forecast to reach its brightest, at around mag 11.9. It will lie at a distance of 2.40 AU from the Sun, and at a distance of 1.53 AU from the Earth. December 3 - C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) at perihelion....
December 01, 2018
November 4 - 64P/Swift-Gehrels at perihelion. Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels will make its closest approach to the Sun, at a distance of 1.39 AU. November 5, 6 - Taurid meteor shower. This is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5 - 10 meteors per...
November 01, 2018
October 1 - M110 well placed for observation. M110, the brightest satellite galaxy of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) will be well placed for observation. It will reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight local time. At a declination of +41°41', it...
October 01, 2018
The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky on September 9. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere. The...
September 01, 2018
A partial solar eclipse will take place from 06:40 to 12:38 UTC on August 11. It will be visible in parts of northeast Canada, Greenland, extreme northern Europe, and northern and eastern Asia. It will be best seen in northern Russia with 68% coverage. At 09:59 UTC...
August 03, 2018
The Earth's annual orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point from the Sun – its aphelion – on July 6 at a distance of 1.02 AU. This month's New Moon is on July 13, making it the best time of the month to observe faint objects such...
July 01, 2018
The summer of 2018 in the northern hemisphere will officially begin on June 21 with June Solstice at 09:54 UTC. On this day, Earth's North Pole will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position in the sky and will be directly over...
June 01, 2018
Eta Aquariids meteor shower, a strong shower when viewed in the southern tropics, will peak on the night of May 6 and the morning of May 7. While this shower is capable of producing 60 meteors per hour at its peak, the waning gibbous moon will block most of the...
May 03, 2018
Three meteor showers will mark April 2018, with Lyrids on April 21 and 22 the most promising one. The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight, leaving dark skies for the what could be a good show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. ...
April 03, 2018
While February had no full moon, March will host two of them - one on March 2 and the second, blue moon, on March 31. The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere - New Moon - is on...
March 01, 2018
After super blue blood Moon on January 31, we are heading toward our next celestial event on February 15 when a partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Chile, Argentina, and Antarctica. The best time of this month to observe faint objects such as galaxies...
February 01, 2018
A Full Moon Supermoon will take place early January 2 (UTC), Earth will reach perihelion (closest point to the Sun) on January 3 and Quadrantid meteor shower will reach its peak on January 4th. The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and...
January 01, 2018
The year ends with the first and last supermoon of the year, the first of 3 over the next 60 days, one royal meteor shower, and December solstice. Hopefully, this year made us all stronger, wiser and ready for what's to come in 2018 and beyond. December 1 -...
December 01, 2017
November brings us peaks of 2 notable meteor showers, Northern Taurids (Class II) on November 11 and Leonids (Class I) on November 18. The Moon will be 24 days old during the peak of Taurids and 30 during Leonids, presenting minimal interference. We also have peaks...
November 01, 2017
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...
October 01, 2017
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...
September 01, 2017
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...
August 01, 2017
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...
July 01, 2017
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....
June 01, 2017
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...
May 01, 2017
April brings us three meteor showers - Virginids on April 12th, Lyrids on the 22nd and 23rd and Alpha Schorpiids on the 28th. The Moon will present minimal interference for Lyrids and Alpha Scorpiids. On April 1, Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák is making...
April 01, 2017
The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world - March equinox - on March 20. This is the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal...
March 01, 2017
A penumbral lunar eclipse will take place at 00:45 UTC on February 11. Although the Moon's light dims considerably during a penumbral eclipse, this is only perceptible to those with very astute vision, or in carefully controlled photographs. The eclipse will be...
February 01, 2017
January 2017 hosts one of the most intense annual meteor showers - the Quadrantids, known for producing spectacular fireballs. The timing favors western parts of North America and islands across the Pacific. The peak of Quadrantids is brief, typically lasting no...
January 02, 2017
The last of three supermoons for this year will occur on December 14. Over the nights following December 14, the Moon will rise around an hour later each day, becoming prominent later in the night. Within a few days, it will only be visible in the pre-dawn and...
December 01, 2016
This month’s Full Moon - the second of three supermoons in 2016 - will be the largest and closest to Earth since January 26, 1948. It won't come this close again until November 25, 2034. Out of three meteor shower peaks for the month, only Southern Taurids...
November 01, 2016
October will bring us the first of three supermoons for 2016. On October 16, the full moon will take place unusually close to the time of the month when the Moon also makes its closest approach to the Earth – called its perigee. This near coincidence between a...
October 01, 2016
September 2016 started with an annular solar eclipse visible across central Africa southwards to Madagascar and into the Indian Ocean. The next annular eclipse will occur on February 26, 2017, and will be visible from south and west Africa, much of South America,...
September 01, 2016
The peak of this year's Perseid meteor shower, one of the most prolific annual showers, will be in "outburst" mode on August 11 and 12, the first since 2009. This means that instead of the usual 80 Perseids per hour, the rate could top 150 or 200...
August 01, 2016
July brings two meteor showers under relatively dark skies. Alpha Capricornids will reach their peak on July 26 with the maximum rate of around 5 per hour. A few days later, on July 29, the Delta Aquarid meteor shower will peak with up to 20 meteors per hour. The...
July 01, 2016
On June 3, planet Saturn 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 visible all night long. The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies...
June 01, 2016
May hosts an above average meteor shower - the Eta Aquarids - with its peak on the night of May 5 and the morning of May 6. This will also be the best time of the month to observe faint objects in the night sky because there is no moonlight to interfere. A rare...
May 01, 2016
April hosts two meteor showers, but only one major. The first - Virginid meteor shower - will reach its maximum rate of activity on April 12. The Moon will be 5 days old and will present minimal interference. The maximum rate of meteors expected to be visible from a...
April 01, 2016
There will be, at least, two special celestial events during March 2016 - total solar eclipse at 01:58 UTC on March 9 and penumbral lunar eclipse at 11:48 UTC on March 23. March Equinox, the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the...
March 01, 2016
February 2016 starts with the conjunction between the Moon and Mars. The pair will be located in the constellation Libra and visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars on February 1. The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies...
February 01, 2016
We start the year with our planet reaching perihelion - closest point to the Sun - which will happen at 22:49 UTC on January 2. At the time, Earth will be 146.6 million km (91 million miles) from the Sun. The first meteor shower of the year - Quadrantids - will...
January 01, 2016