Watch out for these few events in the sky over the next month and celebrate Global Astronomy Month. Figure out the best view locations and get the best experience when stargazing.
This April is Global Astronomy month, and there are some things to look out for. The first thing this month is the Solar Eclipse on April 8th and this event is extremely rare! Even though a solar eclipse happens every 2-3 years but the most of the time they are not visible to people like in the ocean. The next solar eclipse that people can see is in Greenland, the next Solar Eclipse that is visible to America is in 2044.
Mx. Bennett our Astronomy talks through some times about this rare event.
“in Washington we are gonna have about 20% partial eclipse so it will look like there is a chunk taken out of the bottom of the sun” said Mx. Bennett.
They also say the best viewing time for us is going to be from 10:30-11:30am. Though if you are going to look at it make sure you have certified viewing glasses with the ISO 12312-2 stamp, so you don’t harm your eyes.
If you are worried about the effects it has or unable to look at it NASA has a simulation on their website
Something else to keep track of is T Coronae Borealis which is a star system that become your be able to see this month.
“it goes from a magnitude 10 star which is not visible to a naked eye to a magnitude 2 star every 80 years” said Mx. Bennett.
This star is predicted to be visible during April but does not have a date about the specific dates. The reason why it only gets visible every 80 years is because the star system there is 5 white dwarf stars that are essentially dead stars and there is also a red giant which is a star in the process of dying. But every 80 years the red giant creates extra gas that the white dwarfs eat up and get big enough to fuse for a week then they run out.
When observing the stars in April you can also see another cool event. Meteor showers happen every year multiple times but nevertheless they are still extremely unique and interesting to look at.
During this month the Lyrid Meteor Shower is happening from the 15th-29th but they are fully peaking on the 22nd –23rd though it might be hard to spot as the moon will be in waxing gibbous.
“Meteor showers are left over debris from comments that leave their matter as they kind of evaporate as they get close to the sun” said Mx Bennett.
The Lyrid meteor shower are very interesting as the comment thatcher which is where the Lyrids come from takes over 415 years to orbit the sun making the next available time to see them in 2283. Though Mx Bennett shared that these meteor showers can be underwhelming and some ones happening in the summer can be more impressive to observe.
If you had looked up astronomy events happening this month you may have seen the Pink Moon and gotten very excited. Sorry to break the news the pink moon is in fact not pink. Every month the farmers gave the moon a name so here are some other names for this moon are Breaking ice moon from the Algonquin people, Moon od the Red Grass Appearing from the Oglala people and the Moon when the Ducks Come Back from the Lakota people.
What you observe is very important but what is even more important is where. Some near by locations are Snoqualmie valley trail, Gold creek pond in Snoqualmie pass and Snoqualmie point park. If you wanted to take a road trip Mt Rainer is a great place Lasty if you are looking for equipment Cloud break Optics in Ballard is a place recommended by Mx. Bennett.
Now all set to look out and see the great events happening this next month.