Astronomical Events in 2017

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Bright Comet Prospects for 2017

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Comet lovers have much to look forward to in 2017 with six potential binocular comets and at least two others for modest backyard telescopes.

If you don't own binoculars, get a pair soon. I've gone over my list, checked it thrice, and come up with six likely binocular comets making appearances in 2017. At least one of these could reach naked-eye visibility.

  Read More: Sky and Telescope

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Meteor Showers in 2017

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Everyone enjoys the brief and sometimes dazzling streaks of light from meteors, sometimes called "shooting stars." Sky & Telescope predicts that the two best meteor showers in 2016 will be the Quadrantids in early January and the Geminids in mid-December.

If you watch the starry night sky from a dark location, a few times every hour you'll see brief streaks of light from meteors, sometimes called "shooting stars." They can catch your eye just at the limit of visibility or be dramatically bright fireballs that appear brighter than Venus and light up the nightscape around you. The rarest of these events, called a bolide, shatters into pieces during its rapid descent.

  Read More: Sky and Telescope

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

Moon Phases 2017 – Northern Hemisphere

This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2017, as viewed from the northern hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour. In addition, this visualization shows the Moon's orbit position, sub-Earth and subsolar points, distance from the Earth at true scale, and labels of craters near the terminator.

Production music provided by Killer Tracks.

To learn more about this visualization, or to see what the Moon will look like at any hour in 2017, visit our "Dial A-Moon" website: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4537

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/David Ladd

  Source: NASA Goddard -YouTube Channel

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

Moon Phases 2017 – Southern Hemisphere

This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2017, as viewed from the southern hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour. In addition, this visualization shows the Moon's orbit position, sub-Earth and subsolar points, distance from the Earth at true scale, and labels of craters near the terminator.

Production music provided by Killer Tracks.

To learn more about this visualization, or to see what the Moon will look like at any hour in 2017, visit our "Dial A-Moon" website: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4538

Production music provided by Killer Tracks.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/David Ladd

  Source: NASA Goddard -YouTube Channel

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2017

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It won't be a great year for lunar eclipses, with a deep penumbral event on February 11th and a partial on August 7th. But the solar offerings are much better, with an annular observable from the Southern Hemisphere on February 26th and the Big One — a total solar eclipse crosses the continental U.S. — on August 21st.

Any list of nature's grandest spectacles would certainly include eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Up to seven of them can take place in one year, though the last time that happened was 1982. The fewest possible is four, as will be the case in 2017. Neither of the lunar eclipses is total (though we'll have two of those in 2018). But both of 2017's solar eclipses are "central" events: one annular and one total.

  Read More: Sky and Telescope

 

[Frank Merton]

I went to a total solar eclipse many years ago when I was living in Washington, DC.  Totality swept over Norfolk, so I took half a day to drive out there.

Even though we are approaching solar minimum, where things won't be as spectacular as I saw, it is still worth it.  I repeat, if it is at all possible, try to catch it.  Indeed, it is a once in a lifetime thing (unless you have the funds to chase them) and should be -- must be -- experienced.  The "clockwork of the heavens" fully revealed  -- oh I get thrills even now thinking about it.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

I agree totally with what Frank is saying. I had to go to Zimbabwe to see my total solar eclipse. There is no more spectacular sight in nature. It is awe-inspiringly beautiful. Everybody should see at least one.

13 minutes ago, Frank Merton said:

I went to a total solar eclipse many years ago when I was living in Washington, DC.  Totality swept over Norfolk, so I took half a day to drive out there.

Was it this one Frank: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970?

Mine was June 21,2001.

 

11 minutes ago, Frank Merton said:

oh I get thrills even now thinking about it.

I know exactly what you mean.

[toast]

16 minutes ago, Frank Merton said:

I went to a total solar eclipse many years ago when I was living in Washington, DC.  Totality swept over Norfolk, so I took half a day to drive out there.

Even though we are approaching solar minimum, where things won't be as spectacular as I saw, it is still worth it.  I repeat, if it is at all possible, try to catch it.  Indeed, it is a once in a lifetime thing (unless you have the funds to chase them) and should be -- must be -- experienced.  The "clockwork of the heavens" fully revealed  -- oh I get thrills even now thinking about it.

^^This. I watched the solar eclipse in Munich in 1999 and yes, it was breathtaking and weird as well.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

1 minute ago, toast said:

^^This. I watched the solar eclipse in Munich in 1999 and yes, it was breathtaking and weird as well.

That one just clipped Cornwall in the UK. I didn't get to go as my mother was ill. As it happened London had clear skies and I got to see a 99% partial eclipse. Cornwall was cloudy and they saw nothing. It was missing out on this that made me decide to go to Africa for the 2001 eclipse.

I can also say having experienced these two events, that the difference between 99% totality and 100% totality is EVERYTHING.