Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here is shaping up to be
Speaker 1: a fantastic year for astronomical events, so we wanted to
Speaker 1: present you with a list of some of the biggest
Speaker 1: and brightest that there will be. It's not a complete list,
Speaker 1: of course. A check a star app on any given
Speaker 1: day in the universe may surprise you, but in chronological order,
Speaker 1: here are a few to keep in mind. March thirteen
Speaker 1: will be the ideal night for attempting to run the
Speaker 1: Bessio Marathon. This is an event that many amateur astronomers
Speaker 1: attempt once a year on the best night of moon
Speaker 1: phase and weather conditions to try to see all a
Speaker 1: hundred and ten deep space objects in the Messy You catalog.
Speaker 1: These deep space objects include nebulas, star clusters, and galaxies.
Speaker 1: Seeing them all in a single night is quite a challenge.
Speaker 1: You'll need a minimum eighty millimeter telescope to complete the
Speaker 1: Messier Marathon on, so start making plans now if you're
Speaker 1: thinking of investing in one before March. On April seventeen,
Speaker 1: the lunar occultation of Mars will occur, a lunar occultation
Speaker 1: is when the Moon passes directly in front of another
Speaker 1: planet or star. It's the lunar equivalent of an eclipse.
Speaker 1: Just like eclipses, lunar occultations are visible from only a
Speaker 1: small area on Earth when they occur. This one, with
Speaker 1: the Moon passing over Mars will be visible only from
Speaker 1: parts of Southeast Asia. The first great opportunity to spot
Speaker 1: shooting stars will occur in the early morning of April.
Speaker 1: The night of April one, this is the predicted peak
Speaker 1: of the Lyrad's meteor shower that occurs from April sixty
Speaker 1: six every year. Lyrad's meteors are caused by the comet Thatcher,
Speaker 1: which orbits the Sun every four d and fifteen years.
Speaker 1: What makes the Lyrad special is the chance to see
Speaker 1: Lyrad fireballs. These meteors are unusually bright and can even
Speaker 1: cause a shadow. On the night of peak activity, you
Speaker 1: can see around twenty meteors per hour. And then, after
Speaker 1: more than a year of penumberal lunar eclipses, which are
Speaker 1: less impressive and harder to spot than partial and total
Speaker 1: lunar eclipses, we finally have a chance to see a
Speaker 1: total lunar eclipse on the night of May, viewers and
Speaker 1: parts of Eastern Asia, Oceania, Western North America, and southern
Speaker 1: South America will have the chance to spot a blood
Speaker 1: red moon in the sky. Be sure to check the
Speaker 1: time zone when the total lunar eclipse will occur in
Speaker 1: your area so that you don't miss it. And, as
Speaker 1: is always the case, lunar and solar eclipses happen together,
Speaker 1: sometimes one of each, sometimes as solar eclipse will be
Speaker 1: bookended by two lunar eclipses. On June tenth, those in
Speaker 1: northern Russia and Siberia and Canada's northwest territories will have
Speaker 1: the chance to see an annular solar eclipse. This is
Speaker 1: sometimes called a ring of fire eclipse because the moon
Speaker 1: doesn't fully block out the Sun, causing a bright circle
Speaker 1: of sun in the sky. This is one of two
Speaker 1: solar eclipses, the others in December and a bit more spectacular.
Speaker 1: More on that one in a minute. In the meanwhile,
Speaker 1: we'll see the peak of the Percy and meteor shower
Speaker 1: on August twelve. This is widely considered the best meteor
Speaker 1: shower of the year thanks to its high frequency of
Speaker 1: activity and the warm weather that we experience in the
Speaker 1: northern hemisphere during August. Typically, the proceeds peak sometime between
Speaker 1: August twelve and fourtee. That peak is expected to be
Speaker 1: on the first night. Look for up to a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty meteors per hour on this night, caused by
Speaker 1: debris left by the Comet Swift Tuttle on its one
Speaker 1: and thirty three year orbit around the Sun. NASA has
Speaker 1: a number of exciting missions planned in though as with
Speaker 1: all space launches, the dates are always considered tentative until
Speaker 1: the launch actually happens. These include test flights for the
Speaker 1: Boeing star Liner, the second man spacecraft planned for the
Speaker 1: International Space Station, crude missions after SpaceX's crew Dragon, and
Speaker 1: the Lucy mission to study Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. But
Speaker 1: the one everyone has been waiting for is the James
Speaker 1: Webb Space Telescope launch. The mission to launch a replacement
Speaker 1: for the Hubble Space Telescope began and was supposed to
Speaker 1: happen in two thousand seven. Numerous delays of plague the project,
Speaker 1: but NASA seems confident that the October thirty first date
Speaker 1: they've set will actually happen. We know this isn't an
Speaker 1: astronomy event per se, but it's still pretty cool. Then,
Speaker 1: after occulting Mars in the spring, the moon is back
Speaker 1: for another lunar occultation on November seven. This time, it's
Speaker 1: bright neighboring Venus that will be blocked by the Moon.
Speaker 1: Like the lunar occultation of Mars, this occultation is only
Speaker 1: visible from a small area of Earth. In this case,
Speaker 1: those in far East Asia, including eastern China, Korea, and
Speaker 1: Japan will have a picture perfect view the waxing crescent
Speaker 1: Moon passing in front of Venus. Then in December, the
Speaker 1: Southern Hemisphere will see a total solar eclipse. This is
Speaker 1: the better solar eclipse viewing opportunity of the two this year.
Speaker 1: Overnight from December three to four, the sun, Moon and
Speaker 1: Earth will align, casting a shadow over part of the
Speaker 1: Southern Hemisphere. But like that earlier eclipse, you'll need to
Speaker 1: be up for quite a journey in order to experience totality.
Speaker 1: Is the Moon's shadow passes over Earth, it will only
Speaker 1: be visible from parts of Antarctica and cruise tours planning
Speaker 1: to be in the right area on the day of
Speaker 1: the eclipse. Last, but certainly not least, end your year
Speaker 1: of astronomical wonders by viewing the Geminid meteor shower when
Speaker 1: it peaks on the night of December. This meteor shower
Speaker 1: won't be quite as good as the percy it's in
Speaker 1: August for a number of reasons, including cold winter weather
Speaker 1: in the northern Hemisphere and a bright, waxing gibbus moon.
Speaker 1: If you're up for it anyway, there will be up
Speaker 1: to a under twenty meters per hour on the night
Speaker 1: of peak activity. Today's episode was written by Valerie Stomach
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more in this and
Speaker 1: lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: Brain stuff It's production of I Heart Radio. For more
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