A guide to Greenville’s night sky

Astronomy-calendar

Image via Pexels

Table of Contents

Did you see the full moon last week? The beautiful Full Beaver Moon shone bright in Greenville. 🌕

In case you missed it, we are here to give you the full rundown of all things astronomy to mark on your calendar this year, and what major things you won’t want to miss in 2020. 🔭

What to look out for in November:

November might be the mark of Scorpio season, but astronomy and astrology are a little different – a.k.a, you won’t be able to see its correlating constellation Scorpius this month.

Here are the constellations that will be most visible in November ⭐:

AndromedaPrincess of Ethiopia

CassiopeiaQueen of Ethiopia

PhoenixThe phoenix

PiscesThe fish

SculptorThe sculptor’s workshop

TucanaThe toucan

November’s full moon has passed this month, but there’s a New moon 🌑 on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

What to look out for in December:

Here are the constellations that will be most visible in December ⭐:

AriesThe ram

CetusThe sea monster

EridanusThe river

FornaxThe laboratory furnace

HorologiumThe pendulum clock

HydrusThe southern water snake

PerseusThe hero

TriangulumThe triangle

Here are December’s moon phase dates:

○ First quarter 🌗 Wednesday, Dec. 4

○ Full moon 🌕 Thursday, Dec. 12

○ Last quarter 🌗 Wednesday, Dec. 18

○ New moon 🌑 Thursday, Dec. 26

There will be a few meteor showers this month, too. The Alpha Monocerotids meteor shower may produce an outburst of meteors tomorrow, Nov. 21-Nov. 22. The Geminid meteor shower will peak the night of Friday, Dec. 13 through the morning of the 14th. While a full moon will just be passing (which notably lights up the sky), a whopping 20-30 meteors may still be visible each hour. The Ursid meteor showerproducing around 5-10 visible meteors per hour – will take place Dec. 21-22.

Unfortunately, 2019’s only annual lunar eclipse on Dec. 26 will only be visible in the Eastern Hemisphere.

What to look out for in 2020 🔭:

Meteor showers

○ Quadrantids – Jan., 3-4

○ Lyrids – April 22-23

○ Eta Aquarids – May 6-7

○ Delta Aquarids – July 28-29

○ Perseids – Aug. 12-13

○ Draconids – Oct. 7

○ Orionids – Oct. 21-22

○ Taurids – Nov. 4-5

○ Leonids – Nov. 17-18

○ Geminids – Dec. 13-14

○ Ursids – Dec. 21-22

Supermoons

○ Feb. 9

○ March 9

○ April 8

○ May 7

Blue moon

○ Oct. 31

Lunar eclipse

○ July 5

○ Nov. 30

Bonus – Here are some cool tools you can utilize for all of your astronomical + stargazing needs:

Moon phase calendar

Real-time astronomical simulator

Constellation guide

Quiz


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