Night Sky Calendar 2012
December 2011
December 10th – Total Lunar Eclipse.
December 13th and 14th – Geminids Meteor Shower.
December 22th – Winter Solstice. (Summer solstice in southern hemisphere)
December 24th – Ursids Meteor Shower.
January 2012
January 3rd and 4th – Quadrantids Meteor Shower peaks with an estimated maximum of 40 meteors per hour.
February
No key events in February
March
March 3rd – Mars at Opposition when it lies opposite the Sun in the Sky, it will be close and bright making this a great time to observe the red planet.
March 14th – Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter when the two objects will be within 3 degrees of each other in the sky.
March 20th – Vernal Equinox at 05:14 GMT when all parts of Earth receive equal hours of day and night (the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the southern hemisphere).
April
April 15th – Saturn at Opposition making it a great time to observe the ringed planet.
April 21st and 22nd – Lyrids Meteor Shower peaks with estimated maximum of 20 meteors per hour. No bright Moon to interfere so great chance to go meteor spotting.
May
May 5th and 6th – Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower with estimate of just 10 meteors per hour with a full moon interfering, stay in bed!
May 20th – Annular Solar Eclipse visible from China through Japan, the northern Pacific Ocean and western parts of the USA. It will be visible as a partial eclipse in parts of North America and eastern parts of Asia.
June
June 4th – Partial Lunar Eclipse visible in parts of Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and parts of the United States.
June 5th and 6th – Transit of Venus. This rare event is visible from many areas; fully visible from parts of Asia, eastern Australia and Alaska with only parts of the transit visible at sunrise from Europe, western Asia, Africa and at sunset from most parts of America. Miss this and it will be 2117 until the next one.
June 20th – Summer Solstice at 23:09 GMT (Winter Solstice in southern hemisphere)
July
July 28th and 29th – Southern Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower peaking with an expected 20 meteors per hour.
August
August 12th and 13th – Perseids Meteor Shower is the one to watch this year with an estimated 60 meteors per hour at peak. The Moon should be no problem this year.
August 24th – Neptune will lie opposite the Sun in the sky so a great time to observe this elusive planet.
September
September 22nd – Autumnal Equinox at 14:49 marks the start of Autumn in the northern hemisphere and the start of spring in the southern hemisphere.
September 29th – Uranus at Opposition.
October
October 21st and 22nd – Orionids Meteor Shower with an expected maximum of 20 meteors per hour, no Moon interference after midnight so a good shower to try and observe this year.
November
November 13th – Total Solar Eclipse for the southern hemisphere. Parts of the very northern areas of Australia and the southern Pacific Ocean will see totality whereas a partial eclipse will be seen from other parts of Australia and New Zealand.
November 17th and 18th – Leonids Meteor Shower expected to peak with up to 50 meteors per hour. Without the bright Moon there should be many meteors visible so well worth getting out after the midnight hours on the 17th.
November 27th – Conjunction of Venus and Saturn just before sunrise due east. The two planets will be within a degree of each other and look quite stunning in the dawn sky.
November 28th – Penumbral Lunar Eclipse with visibility throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and north America although these type of eclipses can be rather underwhelming as the Moon only falls into the lightest part of the Earth’s shadow, the penumbra.
December
December 3rd – Jupiter will be opposite the Sun in the sky so will be visible all night.
December 13th and 14th – Geminids Meteor Shower with hopefully up to 60 meteors visible per hour at peak.
December 21st – Winter Solstice at 11:12 GMT (Summer solstice in southern hemisphere).
