Gazing The Stars

 Hi everybody! Hope you are wonderful today!  

There is something that I love starring at and it’s the sky! (yeah of course you know because of the heading hahaha). During this 2017 there has been like a hundred of amazing astronomical phenomena that I’ve missed because I didn’t know about them until the last minute and I don’t want this year to be the same sooooooo... Here it is! An amazing calendar! I found it on twitter the other day and that gave me the idea of doing this post. 

As I said I found this pic on twitter. Amazing, huh!

As I was saying, I saw that picture on twitter and then I started doing some research to find out more and...there it is the list!  Unfortunately there are many of these that won’t be seen in some parts of the world but some of you could get the chance to witness some of these magical nights. By the way, my sources are from NASA, some newspaper articles from spain and seasky.org

• January: 
  • 1-2. Supermoon aka Full Wolf moon .  
  • 3-4. Quadrantids meteor shower. Unfortunately, the nearly-full moon blocked out almost every meteor except the brightest ones. Yes. I did not know about these two on time BUT from now on I am aware of the ones that follow hahaha 
  • 31st TONIGHT Full moon, super moon, blue moon aka Super Blue Blood Moon (FIRST IN 150 YEARS) Check out! The first It is called Blue moon because it’s the second full moon in a month and it will be the last supermoon in 2018 so... Inhabitants of Australia, Asia and west coast of Northamerica are the luckiest ones that will be able to see this in the best conditions.  Here is an image of NASA with the areas and hours where this incredible phenomena can be seen (No luck for Spanish people :( )  
• February: 
  • 15th Partial Solar Ecplise: only visible in Antartica and the very south of Chile and Argentina

• March:
  • 2nd Full MonThis one is also called “Full Worm moon” because this was the time of year when the ground would begin to soften and the earthworms would reappear
  • 15th Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation. It’s the best time to take a look to Mercury because it’s going to be at its highest point aboive the horizon during the evening after the sunset! o 20th Welcome Spring! o 31st Full moon, blue moon! Second month with two full moons!  

• April: 
  • 22nd and 23rd Lyrids Meteor Shower: It won’t be really active ‘cause only 5meteors per hour are expected, eventhough, the moonlight won’t be a problem that night.

• May: 
  • 6th and 7th : Eta Aquarids aka Halley comet’s tears: It will be an above average shower with up to 60meteors per hour in the South Hemisphere and 30p/h in North! I am definetely not missing this one!  
  • 9th : Juppiter Opposition: Jupiter will be really close to the Earth and it’s face will be illuminated by the Sun and I’ve read that it could be possible to see Jupiter’s four largest moons too!! 

• June: 
  • 21t! Welcome Summer! o 27th: Saturn at Opposition: Saturn and its moons will be visible this night. If you have a telescope you could be able to see the rings too! 
  • 28th Full Rose Moon or Full Honey Moon: It’s just a regular full moon but it’s called like that because its the peak of the strawberry season. 

• July: 
  • 12th: Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation: If you want to take a look at Mercury, your moment is right after the sunset low in the west.  
  • 13th: Partial Solar Eclipse: Unfortunately this eclipse will only be visible in southern Australia and Antartica. 
  • 27th: Total Lunar Eclipse and Mars at Opposition: GOOD NEWS! Mars will be visible all night long and this Eclipse will be visible in Europe (yay!), Africa, the central and west of Asia and Australia. The full moon will turn blood red and I won’t miss it, will you? 
  • 28th and 29th Peak of the Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower: This shower runs from July 12th to August 23rd but these two days will be the gratest ones eventhough the full moon will block out almost every meteor.   

• August: 
  • 11th New moon and Partial Solar Ecplise: Only visible in the North, specially Russia. 
  • 12th and 13th: Perseids Meteor Shower: Breaking news! You can’t miss this spectacular show cause the moon won’t interfere. 
  • 17th: Venus at Greatest Eastern Elongation: Look for a bright planet right after the sunset in the western sky. 
  • 26th : Full moon and Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. Look in the eastern sky just before sunrise to find Mercury 

• September: 
  • 7th Neptune at Opposition: Altough this is a gigant planet it will only look as a tiny bright spot in the sky all night long. 
  • 23rd: Welcome Autumn! (or Spring, just depends on where you are haha) 

• October: 
  • 8th: Draconids Meteor Shower: Its a minor shower but this year the sky will be dark because of the new moon and that will make a little bit easier to find some meteors in the nightsky. 
  • 21st and 22nd:Orionids Meteor Shower. This meteors are always brighter so, no big deal with the full moon that night
  • 23rd: Uranus at Opposition: The distance between the Earth and this planet will make it look as a tiny green-blue dot in the night sky. At least it will be there all night long.  

• November: 
  • 5th and 6th: Taurids Meteor Shower. This shower is produced by two different asteroids, the Asteroid 2004 TG4 and by the Comet 2PEncke. 
  • 6th Mercury as greatest Eastern Elongations. Look for this planet low in the west after sunset. 
  • 17th and 18th Leonids Meteor Shower. This shower has it peak every 33 years and that was in 2001 so we will have to wait some more years to see the shower in its highest peak.  

• December: 
  • 13th and 14th Geminids Meteor Shower: The mother of Meteor Showers with 120 multi colored meteors per hour. Experts sayit will be and excellent early morning show. 
  • 15th Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. Look for it before sunrise in the east. 
  • 21st: Welcome Winter! (or Summer!) and also Ursid Meteor Shower: Unfortunately the full moon will block most part of the meteors.  

~
I hope you find interesting this post! 
Enjoy tonight's moon and see you soon!