Astroblog: Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2020

Thursday, January 09, 2020

Coming Events: A Year of Southern Astronomy for 2020

Jupiter and Saturn on 12 December 2020 at 21:25 ACDST, (60 Minutes after Sunset) as seen from Adelaide, the inset shows the approximate telescopic view of Jupiter and the ringed world with a 4" Newtonian and a 6 mm eyepiece. Most of Australia will enjoy similar views 60 Minutes after Sunset (although you may want to observe earlier if your telecope can not point to far downwards). we may have to wait another 20 years to see a similar pairing. Click to embiggen.

The table below shows significant astronomical events that can be seen with the unaided eye or minimal equipment in 2020 in Australia (and to some degree elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, ocultations and eclipses are very region specific). This year we only get penumbral Lunar eclipses under very poor conditions. There is a very good opposition of Mars though, and a spectacular Jupiter and Saturn conjunction. Venus travels through the Pleiades and displays its crescent form.

Close pairings of the Moon and bright planets are given special attention as not only is the Moon a ready guide to locating the planets if you are not familiar with them, these massings are rather beautiful.

Special events are bolded.

Date	Event
January
11 January 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse in the morning, close to dawn.
21 January 2020	Crescent Moon and Mars close in the morning
23 January 2020	Crescent Moon and Jupiter close in the morning
27 January 2020	Venus and Neptune close
26 January 2020	Mercury close to the crescent moon in the evening twilight
28 January 2020	Venus close to the crescent moon in the evening
February
18 February 2020	Mars passes between the triffid and Lagoon Nebulae
19 February 2020	Waxing Moon close to Mars in the morning
20 February 2020	Waxing Moon extremely close to Jupiter in the morning
21 February 2020	Waxing Moon close to Saturn in the morning
27 February 2020	Waning Crescent Moon close to Venus
29 February 2020	Mars close to Globular cluster M22
March
1 March 2020	Mars still close to Globular cluster M22
8-9 March 2020	Venus close to Uranus (binocular only)
18 March 2020	Waning Crescent Moon forms a line with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in the morning sky
19 March 2020	Crescent Moon between Mars and Jupiter and Saturn
20 March 2020	Earth at Equinox
21 March 2020	Mars very close to Jupiter
22 March 2020	Mercury close to the crescent Moon in the morning
29March 2020	Venus close to the crescent Moon in the evening
April
1 April 2020	Saturn close to Mars in the morning sky
3-4 April 2020	Venus passes through the Pleiades cluster
4 April 2020	Mercury close to Neptune
8 April 2020	Perigee Full Moon ("super" Moon), 3:10 am
15 April 2020	waning Moon close to Jupiter in the morning sky
16 April 2020	waning Moon close to Saturn in the morning sky
22 April 2020	Crescent Moon close to Mercury in the morning sky
26-27 April 2020	Crescent Moon near Venus in the evening sky
May
5 May 2020	Eta Aquariid meteor shower
12 May 2020	Moon between Jupiter and Saturn in evening sky
15-16 May 2020	Mars near the waning Moon
22 May 2020	Mercury and Venus close
24 May 2020	Thin crescent Moon near Venus
June
6 June 2020	Penumbral lunar eclipse early morning near dawn
8 June 2020	Moon and Jupiter close in evening
9 June 2020	waning Moon and Saturn close in evening
13 June 2020	Moon and Mars close in morning
19 June 2020	Thin crescent Moon and Venus close in the morning twilight
July
5 July 2020	Jupiter close to the moon
6 July 2020	Moon and Saturn close
11 July 2020	Moon and Mars close in evening
12 July 2020	Venus close to bright star Aldebaran
14 July 2020	Jupiter at Opposition
17 July 2020	Thin crescent Moon near Venus in the morning
21 July 2020	Saturn at Opposition
29 July 2020	Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower
August
2 August 2020	Moon between Jupiter and Saturn
9 August 2020	Moon close to Mars
15-16 August 2020	Crescent Moon close to Venus
28 August 20	Asteroid Ceres at opposition (binoculars only)
29 August 2020	Moon between Jupiter and Saturn again
September
5-6 September 2020	Mars close to the Moon
14 September 2020	Venus and crescent Moon close in morning sky
19 September 2020	Crescent Moon and Mercury close forming triangle with Spica
24 September 2020	Variable star Mira at its brightest
22 September 2020	Mercury and bright star Spica very close
22 September 2020	Earth at Equinox
25 September 2020	Waxing Moon, Jupiter form a triangle with Saturn
30 September 2020	Venus close to bright star Regulus
October
2-3 October 2020	Mars and waning Moon close
3 October 2020	Venus and the bright star Regulus very close
14 October 2020	Venus and the crescent Moon close
14 October 2020	Mars at opposition
18 October 2020	Mercury and thin crescent Moon closeish in the evening twilight
21 October 2020	Orionid meteor shower
22 October 2020	Jupiter and waning Moon close
23 October 2020	Saturn and waning Moon close
31 October 2020	Blue Moon in WA.
November
1 November 2020	Apogee Full Moon (mini-Moon). In WA full Moon occurs before midnight but for all states apogee is on the early morning of the 1st.
13 November 2020	Thin crescent Moon close to Venus
14 November 2020	Thin crescent Moon close to Mercury
18 November 2020	Leonid Meteor Shower
19 November 2020	Crescent Moon and Jupiter close forming triangle with Saturn
24-25 November 2020	Waxing Moon close to Mars
30 November 2020	Penumbral Lunar eclipse, only seen from eastern states. Blue Moon of all states except WA. (see above)
December
13 December 2020	Venus and thin crescent Moon close
14 December 2020	Geminid Meteor shower (New Moon, good rates)
17 December 2020	Jupiter and Saturn spectacularly close with the thin crescent Moon close too.
21 December 2020	Jupiter and Saturn even more spectacularly close in a conjunction that will not be repeated for over a decade. The pair will easily be visible together in telescope eye pieces.
21 December 2020	Earth is at Solstice
23-24 December 2020	Waxing Moon close to Mars

Labels: asteroids, Conjunction, eclipse, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Meteors, Opposition, Saturn, unaided eye, Venus, Yearly Sky Events

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:27 pm

Comments:

Excelent information and blog!..thanks for share
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https://quasartechsciencie.blogspot.com/2020/01/europa-la-luna-de-jupiter-y-la-quimica.html

Greetings!

# posted by