Another promise Perseid and other events of astronomical autumn 2016

Some regions of Russia languish from the heat of many days, but the orbital mechanics is relentless. The sun rises lower and the day becomes shorter by several minutes every day. Dark nights are returning, which were practically absent in our northern country around the summer solstice. It's time to remember the astronomical events of this fall.

Perseids

It will be: June 17 - August 24 . Maximum: the night of August 11-12 .
This weekend will be closest to the maximum meteor shower. Regardless of whether you are in the city or in nature, do not be lazy to look at one of the most intense, beautiful and convenient for observing meteor showers. In the evening, the moon will interfere in the first quarter, but it will go quite quickly - around one in the morning. Sit comfortably so as not to bully your head, and look up, even in the case of the usual Perseid intensity, the spectacle will be interesting.


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Every year there are predictions that Perseids will be more active. This year, the activity schedule ( there is a constant update here ) is not inspiring, but who knows?



UPD: A fresh schedule instills much more optimism, activity has jumped sharply upwards. Excellent prospects for this night.

Moon eclipse

Will be: in the evening of September 16 .
Unlike last year's autumn lunar eclipse, which was visible only on the European part of the country early in the morning, this year we were more fortunate - an eclipse can be observed throughout Russia.



This year, the eclipse will be a penumbral, so the moon will not turn red, but just darken.

Planetary visibility

The best conditions for observing the planets were in the first half of the year. The confrontation of Mars in late May, Jupiter in March - all this is in the past. Now Jupiter is no longer visible in the evenings, but in October it will appear in the morning sky. Mars and Saturn are visible in the evenings low above the horizon in the southwest, and they will descend more and more. But on September 28 in the morning sky Mercury will be visible with elongation (distance) from the Sun at 18 °. Mercury is not as easy to see as Venus or Jupiter, try to find it in the east.



Venus is now visible in the evenings in the west, very low.

The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter

Will be: in the evening on August 27 .
An interesting, but not very convenient for observation will be the connection of Venus and Jupiter on August 27 There will be only 4 angular minutes between the planets, but they will be visible very low above the western horizon. These are the brightest planets when viewed from Earth, so climb higher and hope for good weather.

Non-astronomical phenomena

The season of noctilucent clouds ends, but you may still be lucky to notice such beauty:


Full size photo

If you are careful, you can see other beautiful things that are rare for the summer. Here, for example, is a typical winter light pole event, which I noticed in the evening in early July.



Very much, in fact, depends on your interest and attentiveness. Last month, returning from the lectures of the “Sea of ​​Clarity” festival, I went to the hostel at VDNH. Out of the corner of my eye I see a bright flash in the sky. After a few seconds, it goes out. I take out the phone, check - it was a flash of Iridium. And around there were a lot of people who did not look at the sky and missed everything ...


Sample Iridium Flash Photography

Even the aurora can be waylaid. Dare, there is a lot of beauty in the sky that can pass unnoticed.



The publication used photographs of the section “Astrophotography” of the Astroforum and materials from the community of AstroAlert VK “Observational astronomy”