Saturday, January 23, 2016
Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2016
Significant astronomical events that can be seen with the unaided eye or minimal equipment in 2016 in Australia (and to some degree elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, ocultations and eclipses are very region specific) are listed in this table.
Special events are bolded.
Sadly, we miss out on the Transit of Mercury this year, but there are a number of beautiful planetary events to keep us occupied.
| Date | Event |
| 1 January 2016; | Moon Near Jupiter |
| 4 January 2016; | crescent Moon near Mars |
| 7 January 2016; | crescent Moon near Venus and Saturn |
| 9 January 2016; | Saturn and Venus at their closest |
| 23-30 January 2016; | All five bright planets visible in the morning sky, the first time since January 2005 |
| 27-28 January 2016; | Moon Near Jupiter |
| 1-22 February 2016; | All five bright planets visible in the morning sky |
| 2 February 2016; | Moon Near Mars |
| 4 February 2016; | Moon near Saturn |
| 6-7 February 2016; | Moon Near Venus and Mercury |
| 24 February 2016; | Moon Near Jupiter |
| 1 March 2016; | Moon close to Mars |
| 3 March 2016; | Moon close to Saturn |
| 7 March 2016; | Moon close to Venus |
| 8 March 2016; | Moon close to Mercury |
| 8 March 2016; | Opposition of Jupiter |
| 9 March 2016; | Partial eclipse of the Sun, northern Australia only |
| 22 March 2016; | Moon close to Jupiter |
| 23 March 2016; | Penumbral eclipse of Moon |
| 28 March 2016; | Moon close to Mars |
| 29 March 2016; | Moon close to Saturn |
| 6 April 2016; | Moon close to Venus |
| 18 April 2016; | Moon close to Jupiter |
| 25 April 2016; | Moon, Mars, Saturn and Antares close |
| 27 April 2016; | Mars and Antares closest |
| 6 May 2016; | Eta Aquariid meteor shower. |
| 6 May 2016; | Moon and Venus close together. |
| 15 May 2016; | Moon close to Jupiter. |
| 22 May 2016; | Opposition of Mars. |
| 22 May 2016; | Moon close to Saturn, Mars and Antares. |
| 3 June 2016; | Opposition of Saturn. |
| 3 June 2016; | Moon and Mercury close. |
| 4-25 June 2016; | Comet C/2013 X1 PANSTARRS potentially visible in binoculars. |
| 11 June 2016; | Moon and Jupiter close. |
| 17 June 2016; | Moon and Mars close. |
| 19 June 2016; | Moon and Saturn close. |
| 9 July 2016; | Jupiter and crescent Moon very close. |
| 14-15 July 2016; | Mars and Moon close. |
| 16 July 2016; | Moon and Saturn close. |
| 17 July 2016; | Venus are Mercury very close, low in the twilight. |
| 30 July 2016; | Southen Delta Aquarids meteor shower. |
| 31 July 2016; | Mercury close to star Regulus. |
| 4 August 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Venus and Regulus. |
| 5 August 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Mercury. |
| 6 August 2016; | Jupiter and Crescent Moon close. |
| 12 August 2016; | Saturn and Moon close, with Mars nearby. |
| 24 August 2016; | Mars and Antares close, with Saturn nearby. |
| 27-28 August 2016; | Venus and Jupiter spectacularly close, Mercury nearby. |
| 3 September 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. |
| 9 September 2016; | Moon forms triangle with Mars and Saturn. |
| 17 September 2016; | Penumbral eclipse of the Moon. |
| 22 September 2016; | Moon close to star Aldebaran. |
| 29 September 2016; | Moon and Mercury close. |
| 3-4 October 2016; | Venus the Crescent Moon close. |
| 6 October 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Saturn. |
| 8 October 2016; | Mars close to Moon. |
| 9-10 October 2016; | Mars close to Globular Cluster M22. |
| 18 October 2014; | Moon close to Jupiter. |
| 22 October 2016; | Orionid meteor shower. |
| 28 October 2016; | Venus, Antares and Saturn form a line. |
| 3 November 2016; | Venus and Saturn at close to crescent Moon. |
| 6 November 2016; | Moon close to Mars. |
| 8 November 2016; | Mars close to globular cluster M75. |
| 17 November 2016; | Leonid Meteor Shower. |
| 20 November 2016; | Venus close to Globular Cluster M22. |
| 25 November 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Jupiter. |
| 1 December 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Mercury. |
| 3 December 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Venus. |
| 5 December 2016; | Moon close to Mars. |
| 15 December 2016; | Geminid Meteor shower. |
| 23 December 2016; | Waning Moon close to Jupiter. |
| 28 December 2016; | Crescent Moon close to Saturn. |
| 31 December 2016; | Comet 45P potentially visible in binoculars. |
Labels: comet, eclipse, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Meteors, Moon, Saturn, Venus
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 4:08 pm 
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