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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
