2019 Calendar of Cosmic Events - May 6: Eta Aquarid Meteors - July 2: Total eclipse of the sun - SALACOA

2019 Calendar of Cosmic Events

May 6: Eta Aquarid Meteors

The best time to see shooting stars from the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is
in the early morning, just before dawn, on May 6.

July 2: Total eclipse of the sun

Aubrey Gemignani/NASA
This will be the first total eclipse of the sun since the Great American Total
Eclipse of 2017, when the long, thin finger of the moon's dark umbral
shadow will again draw its tip – averaging 95 miles (150 kilometers) wide –
across the Earth's surface. But unlike in 2017, which offered a multitude of
possibilities for land-based viewing, the 6,800-mile (11,000-kilometer) path
of the 2019 eclipse is confined almost exclusively to the South Pacific
Ocean. The total eclipse track begins at local sunrise, 2,175-miles (4,000-
kilometers) east-northeast of Wellington, New Zealand. Just 89 minutes
later, comes the moment of greatest eclipse, where the duration on the
center line of the shadow path lasts the longest: 4 minutes 32.8 seconds, at
a point about 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) southwest of Isla Isabela of
the Galapagos Islands, but still over open ocean waters. Indeed, out of the
161 minutes that the shadow’s umbra is in contact with the Earth, it is only
in the final four minutes that it finally makes a landfall in central Chile and
continues rapidly east-southeast through central Argentina, the path
coming to an end just before reaching Rio de la Plata and the nation of
Uruguay, before the shadow lifts off of the Earth at sunset and returns to
space. A very fortuitous circumstance is that Cerro Tololo Inter-American
Observatory, a world class facility of astronomical telescopes and
instruments located 50-miles (80 kilometers) east of La Serena, Chile, at an
altitude of 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) is within the totality path and will
witness 2 minutes and 6 seconds of total eclipse. Some notable
metropolitan areas that will see a very large partial eclipse include
Montevideo (90 percent), Santiago (93 percent) and Buenos Aires (99.4
percent). A partial eclipse will also be visible from Panama, Costa Rica and
a slice of southwest Nicaragua, as well as much of South America, except
for the northern and eastern sections.

Aug. 12-13: Perseid Meteor Shower

Sergio Garcia Rill
The Perseid meteor shower is considered to be among the best of the
annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90 per hour for a single
observer, as well as its reliability. Beloved by summer campers and often
discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country
under a dark starry skies. But sadly, this year's peak happens just two days
before full moon, meaning the sky will be flooded with bright moonlight that
will obscure all but the brightest streaks. However, just before the break of
dawn on the morning of the Aug. 13, the moon will set leaving about an
hour of dark sky and affording an opportunity – albeit brief – to catch the
maximum number of shooting stars.

Nov. 11: Transit of Mercury

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Genna Duberstein
The beginning of the transit will be visible from the eastern third of North
America, the southern third of Greenland, and all of Central and South
America. The beginning will also be visible from Africa, Europe and western
Asia and virtually all of Antarctica. The end will be visible over much of
North America, except for central and western Alaska. The end will also be
visible from all of South America, southernmost Greenland, Hawaii, a small
slice of western Africa, all of New Zealand and virtually all of Antarctica.
When Mercury is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a
tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/195 that of the sun. This size is
too small to be visible to the naked eye. Prospective observers are warned
to take special safety precautions (as with a solar eclipse) in attempting to
view the tiny silhouette of Mercury against the blindingly brilliant disc of the
sun. This will be the last transit of Mercury available to North Americans
until May 7, 2049. [See photos of Mercury's solar transit in 2016]

Nov. 24: Venus and Jupiter, close embrace #2

Jeff Dai
Venus and Jupiter are very low in the southwest during the chilly November
dusk. Their overtaking of each other this month occurs with a glorious
conjunction that is further enlivened by background stars; for the second
time this year these two bright luminaries have a rendezvous; the last was
just over ten months ago in the morning sky. Back then they were
separated by 2.5 degrees. This evening they're even closer; Venus sits 1.4
degrees to Jupiter's lower left.

Nov. 28: Celestial summit meeting at dusk

Starry Night software
Step outside about 45 minutes after sundown and look low near
the southwest horizon. You'll see Jupiter and to its upper left
Venus. Just above Venus will be a hairline crescent moon, just 2.5
days past new. And finally, well to the upper left shines yet a third
bright planet, Saturn.

Dec. 26: Annular eclipse of the sun

NASA/Hinode/XRT
The final eclipse of 2019 will be an annular solar eclipse visible
solely from the Eastern Hemisphere. North America will not see
any part of it. Although the new moon will pass directly across the
face of the sun, it will not cover it entirely because the moon will
be farther than the average distance from the Earth and the
moon's resultant apparent size will be 3 percent smaller than that
of the sun. As a consequence, a thin ring of sunlight will shine
around the dark silhouette of the moon, resulting in an "annular"
eclipse; derived from the Latin word annulus, meaning "ring
shaped." A good analogy would be to place a penny on top of a
nickel, the penny represents the moon and the nickel represents
the sun. Unlike July's eclipse of the sun whose totality path almost
entirely swept over open ocean, the path of December's annular

eclipse will pass over many countries and population centers
stretching from the Middle East to the western Pacific Ocean:
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India,
Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Singapore, Borneo, the Philippines, and even
the tiny island of Guam. Just to the east of the Indonesian island
of Pulau Gin Besar is where the ring of sunlight will last the
longest: 3 minutes 39.5 seconds. A partial eclipse will be visible
from virtually all of Asia, northeastern Africa and northern and
western portions of Australia.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's
Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural
History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications,
and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon Fios1
News in Rye Brook, NY.
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