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The lunar cycle of 29.5 days gives us 12 full moons per year. While each shower is densest in the region of the constellation it’s named for, it can appear-with lesser frequency-anywhere in the sky. On any night you choose to look up, make sure you find as dark a location as possible for the best views, and try for post-midnight. If the moon is full or nearly full the night of a meteor shower, you’ll see only the brightest streaks. 💫 Meteor Showers 💫Īs Earth moves through a comet’s tail, the particles of debris collide with our atmosphere and heat up, generating a light show. And on the Center For Near-Earth Object Studies close approaches data table, you can look up asteroids that will roam close to Earth until the year 2200. It’s too far away and too small to see except with a really good telescope, but you can see this and other “close-approach” asteroids this year on the Eyes on Asteroids site. To put that in perspective, it’s like seeing the Statue of Liberty flying through space about 19 times as far away as the moon. NASA keeps a handy list of the five closest asteroids predicted to fly by Earth, including 2022 YH3, a whopping 290-foot rocky mass that whipped by our planet on January 14, getting as close as 4.52 million miles away. Halley also bears the distinction of being the first comet ever photographed, when several international spacecraft snapped a shot of its nucleus in 1986.

Perhaps the best known is Comet 1P/Halley, which comes around every 76 years its next appearance will be on July 27, 2061. We see comets periodically, every time they intersect with Earth’s own trip around the sun.Ĭomets are generally named for their discoverer-either a person or a spacecraft. The icy dust trails of these long-haul travelers through our solar system produce a sparkling show every time they get close enough to the sun, whose light turns a mundane ball of ice-coated rock into a dazzling display. The one we can see with our naked eyes is a meteor shower, but the comet itself is beautiful, too, especially with a telescope that can reveal its luminous tail. A penbumbral eclipse occurs as the moon moves through the penumbra, the fainter outer part of Earth’s shadow.Ĭomets are responsible for a two-part show. More dust and clouds in our atmosphere means a redder-looking moon. This is called an annular solar eclipse.ĭuring a total lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the sun and the moon, and and its shadow covers the moon, often causing it to appear red through our planet’s atmosphere. When the moon covers the sun’s center portion, watchers can see a fiery ring around the moon where the edges of the sun peek out. What Skywatchers Should Look For 🌞 Solar and Lunar Eclipses 🌚ĭuring a solar eclipse, the moon moves between the sun and Earth, and the sun casts the dark central part of the moon’s shadow, the umbra, on Earth. Make sure you’re converting the times and dates to match your local time zone. Eastern Time zone unless otherwise stated. 🕰 TIP: The times and dates we refer to in this article pertain to the U.S. Keep looking up, and use our 2024 astronomy calendar to plan for this year’s celestial wonders. The year will also have its usual full moons and picturesque planetary conjunctions. You’ll also be able to view an annular solar eclipse, two lunar eclipses, 12 meteor showers, at least two comets, and an asteroid. Stargazers will see plenty of enchanting sights in 2024, but the most mesmerizing may be a total solar eclipse on April 8, which will be visible in most of North America, including 15 U.S.

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