Another year of skywatching is upon us and, as in 2021, the astronomical events of 2022 they will be exciting, with the usual anniversaries and other unique and unrepeatable events.
In this list divided by seasons, you will find some of the most noteworthy celestial events that will take place next year, and rest assured that, over the course of the year, we will provide broader coverage of most of these events as they get closer.
Astronomical events of 2022: winter 2021/2022
Among the first astronomical events of 2022, from mid-February to mid-March, we will be able to witness the spectacle of Venus.
The brightest of all planets will grace the pre-dawn morning sky, shining low in the southeast sky a couple of hours before dawn, after which it will reach its maximum splendor on February 13 and, through small telescopes and fixed binoculars, it will resemble a beautiful crescent phase.
It will reach its maximum western elongation from the sun and, along the way, the moon will involve it in an adorable celestial picture on February 26 while, on March 20, the first day of spring, it will have dropped into a half moon phase.
Astronomical events of 2022: spring
Among the astronomical events of 2022 we find, on April 5, the god of war who meets the Lord of the Rings.
Below in the east-southeast sky before sunrise, we will have a rather tight conjunction this morning, as Mars glides less than 0.4 degrees below Saturn. What will make this spectacle particularly striking to the naked eye is that these two worlds have virtually the same brightness (Saturn, magnitude +0.9, Mars +1.0) and color contrast between white-yellow Saturn and orange Mars. And 7 degrees to their will glisten dazzling Venus. It’s worth setting the alarm at 5:30 to see!
Late April / early May: possible comet with the naked eye?
Comet C / 2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) will pass within 26.6 million miles (42.8 million kilometers) of the sun on April 21 and could illuminate to fourth magnitude – bright enough to be glimpsed with naked eyes – during the last week of April to early May. If visible, it will be low in the west-northwest sky shortly after sunset in the spring evening sky. We just have to wait and see.
April 27-30: meeting at the celestial summit
During the second half of April, observe how Jupiter begins to rise from beyond the east-southeast horizon and approaches Venus. On April 27, a startling gathering of the three brightest objects in the night sky will be visible at dawn twilight as a waning crescent moon glides below Jupiter and Venus, which will be separated by 3 degrees. How would the ancient sky watchers have interpreted this peak?
Then, on April 30, a surprising “double planet” will call attention to all early risers as Jupiter and Venus appear side by side… Jupiter on the left, Venus on the right… and separated by only 0.5 degrees. Although Jupiter will shine with a brilliant magnitude of -2, Venus is able to eclipse it by two magnitudes and appear more than six times brighter.
April 30: a partial solar eclipse
The moon’s dark shadow cone, from which a total eclipse can be seen, will completely miss the Earth, passing approximately 750 miles (1,200 km) below the South Pole.
But the moon’s outer shadow, or penumbra, scrapes part of the southern hemisphere, resulting in a partial eclipse that will be visible to varying degrees near sunset across a swathe of the southern Pacific Ocean and southern and western parts of South America. , including Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, southern Peru, southern Bolivia, western Paraguay, and a small slice of Brazil.
The largest eclipse takes place over the South Pacific Ocean, 300 miles (480 km) northwest of Yelcho Base, a Chilean Antarctic research base in South Bay on Doumer Island. A ship or fishing boat near this point will see that the sun barely clears the west-northwest horizon, with nearly two-thirds of its diameter hidden behind the moon. The normally thick horizon haze could soften and redden the sunlight a little giving it the appearance of a cantaloupe slice.
May 15-16: a total eclipse of the moon
This event has near-perfect timing for most of the Americas. The moon will eclipse completely near or soon after moonrise along the Pacific coast of Oregon and Washington state and throughout much of western and north-central Canada, turning the Moon into a ruddy, ghostly globe, “zoomed in When it comes over the east-southeast horizon from the well-known “lunar illusion” and perhaps well framed by distant landmarks.
From Hawaii, the rising of the moon coincides with the end of wholeness; unfortunately for much of Alaska, the eclipse ends before moonrise. Across the Atlantic Ocean, the setting of the moon will affect much of Africa and Europe; much of central Europe will experience the drama of wholeness at the setting of the moon. The whole will last a little longer than the average: one hour and 24 minutes.
The moon will pass south of the center of the earth’s shadow, so during the total phase the lower part of the moon will appear brighter while its upper part should appear noticeably darker and fainter. However, the brightness and colors that will appear on the moon will depend solely on the state of our atmosphere; a chaotic mixture of clouds, volcanic dust and other contaminants, so it’s hard to say in advance exactly what the totally eclipsed moon might look like.
May 30-31: Possible explosion of slow moving meteors
Perhaps the most dramatic celestial event of 2022 could occur during the night hours of May 30-31 for much of North America, when our planet passes through a dense cloud of meteoroids ejected from the fracture of the nucleus of a small comet (73P / Schwassmann -Wachmann 3).
This unusual cosmic interaction could possibly lead to an astounding, albeit brief, exposure of slowly moving meteors – popularly known as “shooting stars” – perhaps numbered in the many dozen… or even hundreds per hour.
Astronomical events of 2022: summer
Second half of June: five planets align
All five planets will be visible to the naked eye at the same time, arranged in a line that will cross the eastern and southeastern morning twilight sky during the last two weeks of June. What’s even more surprising is that they will all be aligned in their correct order out of the sun: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
And the moon, waning from a gibbous phase to a thin crescent, will visit each planet on specific mornings: Saturn on June 18; Jupiter on June 21; Mars on June 22; Venus on June 26 and finally Mercury on June 27.
July 13: the largest full moon of 2022
The moon becomes full at 2:38 pm. EDT (1838 GMT) and 9 hours and 37 minutes earlier will arrive at the closest point to Earth in 2022 at a distance of 221,994 miles (357,264 km). Colloquially called “supermoon”. Expect a wide range of ocean tides (exceptionally low or exceptionally high) for the next few days.
August 12: Perseid meteor shower peaks
More of a dim light than a highlight; the annual summer show of the Perseid meteor shower will be severely hampered by the light of the full moon.
Astronomical events of 2022: autumn
September 26: Jupiter’s perihelic opposition
The largest planet in our solar system will come into opposition and make its closest approach to Earth from October 1963; a distance of 367.4 million miles (591.2 million km). The great planet will loom large and very bright against the dark stars of the constellation of Pisces, Pisces.
October 25: Partial solar eclipse
To produce this eclipse, the moon’s shadow falls mainly on the north polar regions of the Earth. It will be visible from eastern Greenland and all of Iceland, as well as most of Europe (except Portugal and western and southern parts of Spain), northeastern Africa and to varying degrees over much of western and central Asia. The largest eclipse – with nearly seven-eighths of the sun’s diameter hidden – occurs at local sunset over the West Siberian Plain near the city of Nizhnevertovsk (~ 260,000 inhabitants), one of Russia’s wealthiest cities.
November 8: Total lunar eclipse
This eclipse favors the western half of North America, the Hawaiian Islands, East Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the eastern half of Australia. Along the Atlantic coast, the moon will set as it begins to emerge from the total eclipse. The moon will pass north of the center of the shadow and, as was the case in May, the whole will be unusually long, lasting one hour and 25 minutes. So, as a result, we might expect a moderately dark eclipse, possibly characterized by a brownish hue at the bottom of the moon, contrasted by a brighter coppery red upper border.
7-8 December: An “M&M” evening
During the evening hours of December 7, the full moon will pass very close above Mars, effectively hiding it (called an occultation) for parts of North America, no doubt evoking a question that will be repeated many times that night: “What is that bright yellow-orange star just below the moon? “
Mars will come in opposition to the sun on December 8, rising at sunset, reaching its highest point in the sky at midnight and setting at dawn. It will then shine at magnitude -1.9, surpassing even Sirius, the brightest of all the stars in our night sky.
December 13-14: Geminid meteor shower peaks
Another low light. The Geminid meteor shower, now classified as the best of the annual meteor showers, has the misfortune to occur during the last quarter moon period, which will practically drown out all but the brightest meteors during the hours following midnight.
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