CINCINNATI – In 2020, stargazers in the backyard were treated to a surprise gas in Comet NEOWISE and a full moon lit up Halloween night.
Astronomers in Patagonia were amazed at a total solar eclipse, and the planets Jupiter and Saturn met in a one-time connection.
What does the sky hold for 2021? Mark your calendar because the first meeting of the year is less than two weeks away. Venus will appear next to the moon on January 11 as it moves behind the sun. Two lunar eclipses are also expected in 2021, one in spring and one in autumn. And the Perseiden meteor shower will clear the sky again in August.
Here are the astronomical events of the year that you must not miss:
Moon passing through
If you see a bright star next to the moon at night, chances are it’s a planet. Just before sunrise on January 11, southeast and just above the horizon, you see a slender crescent moon to the right of the dazzling Venus.
Venus will then slowly rise behind the sun and become invisible for several months. It will spring up into the evening sky at the end of May and flare up all summer and fall as the brightest starry object.
January 20 and 21 it’s Mars’ turn. The first quarter moon will pass by the red planet on each of those nights. Our two largest planets get a guest in the morning sky when the moon stays on April 6 and Saturn and Jupiter on April 7.
Planets of love and war
In July, the planets Venus and Mars will appear very close to each other.
On July 11, just after sunset, Mars, Venus and the crescent moon will be in line. And on July 12 and 13, the planets of love and war will be only about half a degree apart. In fact, you can see both planets at once through a small telescope.
Mercury, which is always a difficult planet to find, as it rarely strays far from the sun’s glare, will make its best appearance just after sunset in May. The mercury season begins on May 13 when it will be next to the moon and will end until May 28 after a close collaboration with Venus.
Two lunar eclipses
A total lunar eclipse is one of the coolest astronomical events to behold – the moon enters the shadow of the earth and can change all shades of eerie orange and red.
On the morning of May 26, a lunar eclipse occurs, but what you see depends on where you live. From the Midwest, the eclipse will begin just as the moon descends, so you only see a partial 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 West Coast residents will see a total eclipse.
On November 19, the moon will penetrate the Earth’s shadow for a second time in 2021. Although it will not be a total lunar eclipse, more than 97% of the moon will be blocked at its peak. It is possible that the moon will be dark enough so that in the morning you can see a little pinkish gleam on one side of the lunar surface. Best of all, this partial lunar eclipse is visible throughout the United States.
The small eclipse and the best meteor shower
On June 10, the moon will block a portion of the sun in a ring eclipse called. It is best seen from northern Canada, but states between Minnesota and Virginia and much of the northeastern United States may see a small sun disk obscure that day.
The best meteor shower of the year could be the Perseids, which will peak on 12 and 13 August. The Perseid meteorite storm occurs every year, and when the moon is largely out of the way, you can see between 10 and 20 meteors scattering the sky per hour.
Dean Regas is the astronomer for 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: 2021 Space Events including lunar eclipses, meteor showers