David Dickinson, Author at Universe Today

January 9, 2025January 9, 2025 by David Dickinson

The Moon Occults Mars for North America Monday Night, Just Before Opposition 2025

Now is the best time to observe Mars in 2025.

January has an amazing parade of evening planets, well worth braving the cold for. We have brilliant Venus, high to the west after sunset, reaching greatest elongation on January 10^th. Fainter Saturn sits just above Venus as the two meet on January 19^th. Meanwhile, Jupiter dominates the eastern sky, fresh off of opposition in December. But stay awake just a bit longer after dusk, and you can see Mars rising in the east.

As a special treat, observers in most of North America will also see the nearly Full Moon pass in front of Mars Monday night.

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by David Dickinson

Will Comet G3 ATLAS Perform at Perihelion?

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS may put on a quick show this month.

What ‘may’ be the best anticipated comet of 2025 is coming right up. Right now, there’s only one comet with real potential to reach naked eye visibility in 2025: Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS. This comet reaches perihelion at 0.094 Astronomical Units (AU, 8.7 million miles or 14 million kilometers, interior to the orbit of Mercury) from the Sun on January 13^th, and ‘may’ top -1^st magnitude or brighter. At magnitude +4 in late December, Comet G3 ATLAS could become a fine object low in the dawn sky for southern hemisphere observers… if (a big ‘if) it holds together and performs as expected.

December 31, 2024December 31, 2024 by David Dickinson

The Quadrantid Meteors and More Ring in 2025

This Weekend: Catch the Quadrantids at their annual peak, Earth at perihelion and the Moon blotting out Saturn.

Quads — An early Quadrantid meteor from late 2016. Credit: Eliot Herman

Ready for another amazing year of skywatching? The very first weekend of 2025 offers up a flurry of wintertime astronomy events, eluding a swift meteor shower, a January ‘SuperSun,’ and a lunar planetary pair up at dusk.

December 24, 2024December 30, 2024 by David Dickinson

Top Astronomy Events for 2025

Catching the best sky watching events for the coming year 2025.

Comet vs solar scope — Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured over the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona. Credit: Robert Sparks

How about that eclipse in 2024? Certainly, the Great North American Eclipse of April 8^th 2024 was one for the ages, instilling the eclipse-chasing bug in many a new skywatching fan. Now, for the bad news: 2025 is a rare, totality free year, featuring only a pair of remote partial solar eclipses. The good news is, there’s lots more in store to see in the sky in 2025, with a pair of fine total lunar eclipses, Mars at its best, and lunar occultations galore. And hey, the Sun is still mighty active, and the cosmos does still owe us another fine comet.

December 9, 2024December 11, 2024 by David Dickinson

Our Strategy to Catch the 2024 Geminid Meteors

Don’t let the bright Moon deter you from seeing the one of the best meteor showers of the year.

Update: Astronomer Gianluca Masi will carry the Geminid meteors live on December 13th, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.

One of the best meteor showers of 2024 closes out the year this coming weekend. If skies are clear, watch for the Geminid meteors, peaking on the night of Friday into Saturday, December 13-14^th.

December 3, 2024December 3, 2024 by David Dickinson

Catch Jupiter at Opposition 2024 This Coming Weekend

Now is the time to catch Jupiter at its best.

The King of the Planets rules the winter night skies. Early December gives sky watchers a good reason to brave the cold, as Jupiter shines at its best. Look for the regal planet rising in the east at sunset, while the Sun sets to the west.

November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 by David Dickinson

Watch the Crescent Moon Occult Spica for North America Early Wednesday Morning

One of the best bright star lunar occultations for 2024 occurs this week, as the Moon covers Spica.

Have you ever seen the Moon blot out a star? If the weather cooperates, early morning viewers across eastern North America have a chance to see a rare spectacle, as the crescent Moon occults (covers) the bright star Spica.

November 20, 2024November 20, 2024 by David Dickinson

How Scientists Repurposed a Camera on ESA’s Mars Express Mission

A camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter finds a new lease on life.

Sometimes, limitations can lead to innovation. A recent paper highlights how researchers are utilizing the VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera) aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) venerable Mars Express orbiter.

The work is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of the Basque Country.

November 12, 2024November 13, 2024 by David Dickinson

Is an ‘Off-Year’ Leonid Outburst in the Cards For November?

The 1999 Leonids seen from NASA's airborne Leonid MAC campaign. Credit: NASA/Ames Research/ISAS/Shinsuke Abe/Hajime Yuno.

There are good reasons to keep an eye on the Leonid meteors this year.

It’s still one of the coolest things I ever saw. I was in the U.S. Air Force in the 90s, and November 1998 saw me deployed to the dark skies of Kuwait. That trip provided an unexpected treat, as the Leonid meteors hit dramatic storm levels on the morning of the 17^th. Meteor came fast and furious towards local sunrise, often lighting up the desert floor like celestial photoflashes in the sky.

Once every 33 years or so, the ‘lion roars,’ as Leonid meteors seem to rain down from the Sickle asterism of the constellation Leo. And while the last outbreak was centered around the years surrounding 1999, there’s some interesting discussion about possible encounters with past Leonid streams in 2024.

November 8, 2024November 8, 2024 by David Dickinson

CODEX Coronagraph Heads to the ISS on Cargo Dragon

A new space-based telescope aims to address a key solar mystery.

A new experiment will explore a region of the Sun that’s tough to see from the surface of the Earth. The solar corona—the elusive, pearly white region of the solar atmosphere seen briefly during a total solar eclipse—is generally swamped out by the dazzling Sun. Now, the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) will use a coronagraph to create an ‘artificial eclipse’ in order to explore the poorly understood middle corona region of the solar atmosphere.