What Astronomy Events Are Happening in 2021?

Whatever else happens, 2021 is going to be a year with some amazing astronomical events. Learn when they're happening and how to watch them in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here is shaping up to be
a fantastic year for astronomical events, so we wanted to
present you with a list of some of the biggest
and brightest that there will be. It's not a complete list,
of course. A check a star app on any given

(00:23):
day in the universe may surprise you, but in chronological order,
here are a few to keep in mind. March thirteen
will be the ideal night for attempting to run the
Bessio Marathon. This is an event that many amateur astronomers
attempt once a year on the best night of moon
phase and weather conditions to try to see all a

(00:45):
hundred and ten deep space objects in the Messy You catalog.
These deep space objects include nebulas, star clusters, and galaxies.
Seeing them all in a single night is quite a challenge.
You'll need a minimum eighty millimeter telescope to complete the
Messier Marathon on, so start making plans now if you're
thinking of investing in one before March. On April seventeen,

(01:07):
the lunar occultation of Mars will occur, a lunar occultation
is when the Moon passes directly in front of another
planet or star. It's the lunar equivalent of an eclipse.
Just like eclipses, lunar occultations are visible from only a
small area on Earth when they occur. This one, with
the Moon passing over Mars will be visible only from

(01:28):
parts of Southeast Asia. The first great opportunity to spot
shooting stars will occur in the early morning of April.
The night of April one, this is the predicted peak
of the Lyrad's meteor shower that occurs from April sixty
six every year. Lyrad's meteors are caused by the comet Thatcher,

(01:51):
which orbits the Sun every four d and fifteen years.
What makes the Lyrad special is the chance to see
Lyrad fireballs. These meteors are unusually bright and can even
cause a shadow. On the night of peak activity, you
can see around twenty meteors per hour. And then, after
more than a year of penumberal lunar eclipses, which are

(02:13):
less impressive and harder to spot than partial and total
lunar eclipses, we finally have a chance to see a
total lunar eclipse on the night of May, viewers and
parts of Eastern Asia, Oceania, Western North America, and southern
South America will have the chance to spot a blood
red moon in the sky. Be sure to check the
time zone when the total lunar eclipse will occur in

(02:35):
your area so that you don't miss it. And, as
is always the case, lunar and solar eclipses happen together,
sometimes one of each, sometimes as solar eclipse will be
bookended by two lunar eclipses. On June tenth, those in
northern Russia and Siberia and Canada's northwest territories will have
the chance to see an annular solar eclipse. This is

(02:58):
sometimes called a ring of fire eclipse because the moon
doesn't fully block out the Sun, causing a bright circle
of sun in the sky. This is one of two
solar eclipses, the others in December and a bit more spectacular.
More on that one in a minute. In the meanwhile,
we'll see the peak of the Percy and meteor shower
on August twelve. This is widely considered the best meteor

(03:21):
shower of the year thanks to its high frequency of
activity and the warm weather that we experience in the
northern hemisphere during August. Typically, the proceeds peak sometime between
August twelve and fourtee. That peak is expected to be
on the first night. Look for up to a hundred
and fifty meteors per hour on this night, caused by
debris left by the Comet Swift Tuttle on its one

(03:44):
and thirty three year orbit around the Sun. NASA has
a number of exciting missions planned in though as with
all space launches, the dates are always considered tentative until
the launch actually happens. These include test flights for the
Boeing star Liner, the second man spacecraft planned for the
International Space Station, crude missions after SpaceX's crew Dragon, and

(04:06):
the Lucy mission to study Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. But
the one everyone has been waiting for is the James
Webb Space Telescope launch. The mission to launch a replacement
for the Hubble Space Telescope began and was supposed to
happen in two thousand seven. Numerous delays of plague the project,
but NASA seems confident that the October thirty first date

(04:28):
they've set will actually happen. We know this isn't an
astronomy event per se, but it's still pretty cool. Then,
after occulting Mars in the spring, the moon is back
for another lunar occultation on November seven. This time, it's
bright neighboring Venus that will be blocked by the Moon.
Like the lunar occultation of Mars, this occultation is only

(04:51):
visible from a small area of Earth. In this case,
those in far East Asia, including eastern China, Korea, and
Japan will have a picture perfect view the waxing crescent
Moon passing in front of Venus. Then in December, the
Southern Hemisphere will see a total solar eclipse. This is
the better solar eclipse viewing opportunity of the two this year.

(05:14):
Overnight from December three to four, the sun, Moon and
Earth will align, casting a shadow over part of the
Southern Hemisphere. But like that earlier eclipse, you'll need to
be up for quite a journey in order to experience totality.
Is the Moon's shadow passes over Earth, it will only
be visible from parts of Antarctica and cruise tours planning

(05:34):
to be in the right area on the day of
the eclipse. Last, but certainly not least, end your year
of astronomical wonders by viewing the Geminid meteor shower when
it peaks on the night of December. This meteor shower
won't be quite as good as the percy it's in
August for a number of reasons, including cold winter weather
in the northern Hemisphere and a bright, waxing gibbus moon.

(05:57):
If you're up for it anyway, there will be up
to a under twenty meters per hour on the night
of peak activity. Today's episode was written by Valerie Stomach
and produced by Tyler Clang. For more in this and
lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com.
Brain stuff It's production of I Heart Radio. For more
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(06:21):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.