CINCINNATI – In 2020 backyard stargazers were treated to a surprise guest in Comet NEOWISE and a full moon lit Halloween night.
Astronomers in Patagonia marveled at a total solar eclipse, and the planets Jupiter and Saturn converged in a once-in-a-lifetime conjunction.
What is the sky in for 2021? Mark your calendar as the first event of the year is less than two weeks away. Venus will appear next to the moon on January 11 as it travels behind the sun. Two lunar eclipses are also expected in 2021, one in the spring and one in the fall. And the Perseids meteor shower will brighten the sky again in August.
Here are the astronomical events of the year you shouldn’t miss:
Moon passes
If you see a bright star next to the moon at night, chances are it is a planet. Just before sunrise on January 11, look to the southeast, and just above the horizon, you’ll see a slender crescent moon to the right of dazzling Venus.
Venus will then slowly move behind the sun and become invisible for months. It will appear in the evening sky in late May and will shine as the brightest star-like object all summer and fall.
On January 20 and 21, it will be Mars’s turn. The moon in the first quarter will pass the red planet on each of those nights. Our two largest planets will guest in the morning sky when the moon rises to Saturn on April 6 and Jupiter on April 7.
Planets of Love and War
In July, the planets Venus and Mars appear very close together in the sky.
On July 11, just after sunset, Mars, Venus and the crescent moon will line up. And on July 12th and 13th, the planets of love and war will be only about half a degree apart. In fact, you can see both planets at the same time through a small telescope.
Mercury, always a difficult planet to find because it rarely strays far from the sun’s glare, will make its best appearance just after sunset in May. The Mercury season starts on May 13 when it will be next to the moon and ends on May 28 after a close conjunction with Venus.
Two lunar eclipses
A total lunar eclipse is one of the coolest astronomical events to witness – the moon enters the shadow of the Earth and can change all shades of eerie orange and red.
There will be a lunar eclipse on the morning of May 26, but what you see depends on where you live. From the Midwest, the solar eclipse starts just as the moon is setting, so you’ll only see a partial solar eclipse. The East Coast will largely miss the whole thing. The further west you live, the more you will see. People living in the Mountain Time Zone will see most of it, while residents of the West Coast will see a total solar eclipse.
On November 19, the Moon will enter Earth’s shadow for the second time in 2021. While this won’t be a total lunar eclipse, more than 97% of the moon will be blocked at its peak. It is possible that the moon will get so dark that you will see a small pink glow on one side of the lunar surface that morning. Best of all, this partial lunar eclipse will be visible all over the United States.
The small solar eclipse and the best meteor shower
On June 10, the moon will block part of the sun in a so-called annular solar eclipse. It is best seen from northern Canada, but states between Minnesota and Virginia and much of the northeastern United States may see a small portion of the sun obscured that day.
Perhaps the best meteor shower of the year is the Perseids, which peak on August 12-13. The Perseid Meteor Shower takes place every year, and with the moon largely out of the way, you can see between 10 and 20 meteors pass by. the air per hour.
Dean Regas is the astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory and author of the books “100 Things to See in the Night Sky” and “Facts from Space!” He can be reached at [email protected].
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Space events of 2021 include lunar eclipses, meteor showers