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This sky map shows where to look in the northeastern sky to spot the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which peaks overnight on Jan. 3 and Jan. 4, 2011. It will appear between and below the Big Dipper and Little Dipper constellations. Credit: NASA/JPL |
The year 2011 promises to be a dazzling one
for skywatchers, and it hits the ground running with a partial solar
eclipse and meteor shower.
But those two sky spectacles are just the
beginning for 2011. Here are some of the more noteworthy sky events that will
take place over the next year. SPACE.com's Night Sky
column will provide more extensive coverage of most of these events as they
draw closer.
Jan. 4 ? Meteor shower, solar
eclipse and planets (oh my!): An action-packed day on the celestial
calendar. First, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower reaches its peak during the
predawn hours. It?s one of the best meteor displays of the year, with 50 to 100
meteors per hour. Those living in Europe and western and central Asia should
have the best views.
As a bonus, those areas of the world will witness a
partial eclipse of the sun on this same day. The greatest part of the eclipse, where nearly 86 percent of
the sun?s diameter will be covered, occurs at sunrise over northeastern Sweden,
along the Gulf of Bothnia, near the city of Skellefte?.
Cities in Western Europe, including Oslo, London, Paris and Madrid, will also
enjoy a sunrise eclipse.
Finally, Jupiter will engage Uranus in the
last of a series of three conjunctions; there have been only six such triple
conjunctions between 1801 and 2200.The last was in 1983 and the next will
come during 2037-38.
March 15 ? Mercury and Jupiter draw
close: Like two ships passing in the twilight, Mercury and Jupiter come
within 2 degrees of each other this evening. For comparison, your fist held at
arm's length covers about 10 degrees of arc in the night sky.
Jupiter will be heading toward the sun, while Mercury is
moving away from the sun during this time. Immediately after sunset,
concentrate on that part of the sky just above and to the left of where the sun
has just set. Using binoculars, sweep around this part of the sky to see bright
Jupiter sitting just below and to the left of the harder-to-spot
Mercury.
May (all month long): Four
of the five naked-eye planets will crowd together into what could be described
as a Great Celestial Summit Meeting.
Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are contained within a
10-degree span on May 1, shrinking to a minimum of less than 6 degrees on May
12, then opening back up to 10 degrees on May 20.
Twice during May, three planets close to within nearly 2
degrees of each other: Mercury-Venus-Jupiter (on May 11-12) and
Mercury-Venus-Mars (May 21). And the crescent moon joins the array on May
1 and again on May 30-31.
June 1 ? A partial eclipse of the
sun: The zone of visibility for this eclipse covers parts of
northeast Asia, where the largest eclipse occurs over Cheshskaya
Bay and the Bolshezemelskaya Tundra of far
northwestern Russia. Here, the upper three-fifths of the midnight sun will
appear bitten away.
The eclipse will also be available to the northern
two-thirds of Alaska (an early afternoon event), as well as northern and
eastern portions of Canada, where viewers will see the eclipse during the
course of their afternoon, as the sun slowly descends toward the west-northwest
horizon.
Greenland and Iceland are also within the eclipse zone,
the latter getting a view just before the sun begins to set in their late
evening. The penumbral shadow quits the surface over the open waters of the
Atlantic to the east of Newfoundland, as the sun passes out of sight.
June 15 ? A total eclipse of the
moon: The Americas are pretty much shut out of this event, but almost the
entire Eastern Hemisphere will be able see it. [Photos:
The Total Lunar Eclipse of 2010]
At mid-eclipse, the moon
passes just north of the center of the Earth's shadow. As such, the duration of
totality is an unusually long 100 minutes, which is just seven minutes shy of
the absolute maximum for a total lunar eclipse. In fact, over the last one
hundred years, only three other eclipses have rivaled the duration of totality
of this eclipse: 1935, July 16 (101 minutes); 1982, July 6 (107 minutes), and
2000, July 16 (107 minutes).
Aug. 13 ? Perseid
meteor shower: More of a lowlight than a highlight; the annual summer
performance of the Perseid meteor shower will
be severely hindered by the light of a full moon.
Oct. 8 ? Draconid
meteor shower: Many meteor experts are predicting a good chance that an
outburst of up to many hundreds of Draconid meteors
will take place. Unfortunately, like the Perseids, a
bright moon could severely hamper visibility. The peak of the display is
due sometime between 16h and 21h UT, meaning that the best chances of seeing
any enhanced activity from these very slow-moving meteors would be from Eastern
Europe and Asia.
Nov. 10 ? Mars and bright star:
A colorful conjunction takes place high in the predawn sky between the
yellow-orange Mars and the bluish-white star Regulus
in Leo, the Lion. They are separated by 1.3 degrees, but they?ll be
within 2 degrees of each other for five days and within 5 degrees of each other
for nearly three weeks, so they will be a rather long-enduring feature of the
mid-autumn morning sky.
Nov. 25 ? A partial eclipse of the
sun: The earth?s penumbral shadow brushes the southern and western portion
of South Africa. Greatest eclipse ? nearly 91 percent of the sun?s
diameter covered as it reaches a magnitude of 0.905 ? occurs at a point in the Bellingshausen Sea along the west side of the Antarctic
Peninsula.
The shadow (just barely) manages to pass over Tasmania as
well as portions of New Zealand's South Island. In fact, the last contact of
the shadow with Earth occurs just to the west of the South Island, in the
Tasman Sea.
Dec. 10 ? A total eclipse of the
moon: The side of the Earth that is facing the moon during this event is
chiefly the Pacific Ocean, with eastern and central Asia seeing this as an
evening event, while for North Americans this is a pre-sunrise affair.
From a spot in the Philippine Sea, south of Japan and
east of Taiwan, the moon will stand directly overhead during the middle of the
eclipse. For those living in the Eastern Time Zone of the U.S. and Canada, the
moon will have already dropped out of sight beyond the west-northwest horizon
for those living near and along the Atlantic Seaboard.
Over the central U.S. and Canada, the moon will become
progressively immersed in the umbra as it approaches its setting; the farther
west you go, the larger the obscuration before the moon goes out of sight. The
western U.S. and Canada will be able to see the total phase.
Dec. 13 ? Another low-light meteor
shower: The Geminid meteor shower, now ranked as the best of
the annual meteor showers, has the misfortune of occurring during the time of a
waning gibbous moon, which will pretty much squelch all but the brightest
meteors.
- Video
? Meteor Shower, Solar Eclipse Kicks Off 2011 Skywatching
Season
- Photos:
The Total Solar Eclipse of 2010
- Promising
Quadrantid Meteor Shower to Peak Next Week
Joe Rao serves as an
instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about
astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an
on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.
