On the night of November 5 and 6 we will witness the peak of the Taurids meteor shower. It is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour at peak, while some meteors can also be seen from September 7 to December 10. However it is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. Continue reading
Earlier this month there were two major astronomical events: a hybrid solar eclipse on November 3rd and the Taurids meteor shower peak on the night of November 4 and 5. If you missed those two events, don’t worry, there are two more coming up this month! Continue reading
The month of November will be quite eventful when it comes to astronomical events, especially the second half of the month when we will be able to observe two eclipses, a meteor shower and a planetary conjunction. First of all, on November 13 there will be a total solar eclipse. Continue reading
By the end of this month on October 20 and 21 the Orionids meteor shower will peak. It is an average shower producing about 20 meteors per hour at the peak. This shower usually peaks on the 21st, but it is highly irregular. A good show could be experienced from October 20 to 24, and some meteors may be seen any time from October 17 to 25. Continue reading
This month we are expecting the flyby of Asteroid 2005 YU55. On November 8th, it will make a close approach to the Earth at 0.85 lunar distances. It has a diameter of about 400 meters so unfortunately it is too small to be visible to the naked eye. Continue reading
This month we were expecting to see a close approach of the comet Elenin. Unfortunately, the comet has recently lost in brightness and it seems that it is breaking up. Even these news haven’t stopped all that doomsday nonsense in the blogosphere about this comet crashing into the Earth… Continue reading
Now that the Leonid meteor shower is over, there is no other major astronomical event this week, though it’s still interesting to watch the planets. So here are their positions for this week: Mercury: This planet is very close to … Continue reading
Last week we had the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. If you missed it, you could still see a few meteors this week, though not nearly as many as last week. Besides the occasional meteor, there are no major … Continue reading
Over the last 15 years, astronomers have detected nearly 500 planets orbiting stars in our cosmic neighbourhood, but none outside our Milky Way has been confirmed. Now, however, a planet with a minimum mass 1.25 times that of Jupiter has been discovered orbiting a star of extragalactic origin… Continue reading
Today is the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. It is one of the best meteor showers to watch because it produces an average of 40 meteors per hour during the peak. All meteors seem to come from the Leo … Continue reading