Mars Month! October is pretty awesome this year. Two Full Moons, one on Halloween, four brilliantly positioned planets, the Orionid Meteor Shower, and the opposition of Mars are making October of 2020 a rich month for getting out there and investigating the night sky
School is starting, the nights are getting longer, and two gas giants are dominating the night skies while two terrestrial planets make morning appearances.
The rest of summer is PERFECT for the amateur and beginner observer! Saturn and Jupiter are visible all night, Venus is easy to spot in the morning, Mars and Mercury offer a challenge for the early risers and the annual Perseid meteor shower is coming up August 12th.
July is perfect for the amateur and beginner observer! Saturn and Jupiter are visible all night, Venus is easy to spot in the morning, Mars and Mercury offer a challenge for the early risers.
Welcome June brings us all the naked-eye planets at some points in the month, Venus’s introduction to the morning with the Moon, and mornings with four naked-eye planets visible.
Brilliant week-long morning dance of the planets and our Moon paired with warmer nights and a challenging evening conjunction and close encounter at the end of the month make May a wonderful month to get out under the stars.
Three planets still hanging out in the early mornings, an early month unusual conjunction, and a meteor shower make this time of socially distancing ourselves a great time to get outside at night!
Venus still reigns over the March skies, with two conjunctions, three glorious visible planets each morning, and the astronomical start of spring.
February starts out slow, but picks up speed as the dawn skies get crowded with some favorite planets, a lunar flyby, an occultation of Mars for some, Venus shining bright all month, and all naked eye planets visible at some point.
January, though probably very cold, will bring us 2 close encounters, 1 meteor showers, and 4 naked-eye planets, along with some very long nights.