Star Gazing
Fall is a wonderful time to throw on that extra sweater, sit around a fire and gaze at the beautiful stars. Although the year is more than half way through, there are still 5 major stargazing events that you can witness in 2013.
October 18th– Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon: The moon slides through the northern part of the Earth’s penumbral shadow during this lunar eclipse event. The central and eastern portion of North America will get a view of the slightly darkened Hunters’ Moon during the early evening hours.
November 3rd– Hybrid Eclipse of the Sun: This will be a tough phenomenon to see, but interested viewers (using proper viewing devices) will see the dark disk of the moon exiting the sun’s face at sunrise.
Mid-November Through December– Comet ISON: This is a new comet founded by two Russian Scientists.
On Thanksgiving, the comet could be bright enough to be visible in broad daylight around the time of its nearest approach to the sun. It will then travel toward Earth, passing within 40 million miles of our planet. Since comet ISON will become very well placed for viewing in the morning and evening sky during the following weeks, it could become one of the most watched comets of all time!
December (all month)– Venus: Venus will be exceptionally bright for the entire month of December so look for the planet in the morning or evening sky. Venus won’t be as bright an “evening star” again until 2021.
December 12/13– Germinid Meteor Shower: this meteor shower is one of the best all year. The meteors are plentiful (50-100 meteors an hour) and the meteors are exceptionally bright! A waxing gibbous moon may interfere with viewing the shower, so your best bet is to look in the morning sky on the 13th and 14th for this phenomenon.
