Stargazers can expect excellent views of Jupiter the entire night of Monday, Sept. 26 when the giant planet reaches opposition. From the viewpoint of Earth’s surface, opposition happens when an astronomical object rises in the east as the Sun sets in the west, placing the object and the Sun on opposite sides of Earth. Jupiter’s …
A bright meteor flew through the skies over northern Utah on Saturday morning, later raining down meteorites over the Great Salt Lake. Residents of the Salt Lake City area were startled by loud booms at 8:30 a.m. MDT on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. Eyewitnesses saw a fireball in the sky, 16 times brighter than the …
Saturn will have one of its best viewing opportunities of the year in the period surrounding Sunday, Aug. 14. Or it would, if the nearly Full Moon doesn’t spoil our fun. On that date, Saturn will reach opposition – the point where it lies directly opposite the Sun in our night sky – around midnight …
The Perseids are back! Well… sort of. Usually bringing one of the most vivid annual meteor showers visible in Earth’s night sky, commonly delivering 50-100 “shooting stars” per hour at its height, the Perseids will peak Aug. 12 and 13. There’s just one problem: the full Moon. “Sadly, this year’s Perseids peak will see the …
Astronomers are excited about the possibility of a new meteor shower May 30-31. And that excitement has sparked a lot of information about the tau Herculids. Some has been accurate, and some has not. We get excited about meteor showers, too! But sometimes events like this don’t live up to expectations – it happened with …
Most stargazers will have a prime viewing opportunity to see the planets Mars and Jupiter draw incredibly close in the predawn sky on the nights of May 27-30. The two planets will appear 20 degrees or so above the horizon in the eastern-southeastern sky, against the constellation Pisces, approximately 45 minutes before local sunrise. This …
On the night of May 15, and into the early hours of May 16, skywatchers will be treated to a phenomenon which takes place every 1.5 years or so: a total lunar eclipse. Total lunar eclipses occur when the Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of Earth and the planet casts a complete shadow, …
As the spring season continues, May could prove to be of great interest for stargazers and space enthusiasts – with a pair of potentially active meteor showers opening and closing the month. “Meteors aren’t uncommon,” Bill Cooke said, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Earth is …
A fiery meteor streaked across the morning skies in southern Mississippi yesterday on April 27, 2022. More than 30 eyewitnesses in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi reported seeing a bright fireball at 8:03 a.m. CDT. The sighting was soon followed by numerous reports of loud booms heard in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and surrounding …
Skywatchers, you have the opportunity to see not just one, but two planetary conjunctions during the month of April 2022! A conjunction is a celestial event in which two planets, a planet and the Moon, or a planet and a star appear close together in Earth’s night sky. Conjunctions have no profound astronomical significance, but …
