Scientists and space fans always look forward to what the year offers.
Every year, they have not been disappointed as space always
serves up exciting and sometimes scary events!
2022 will not be different because it is packed with upcoming space events that
will frighten even the most jaded space aficionados!
What should you expect from the space calendar for 2022, and how do these
events affect you?
Join us as we explore the most frightening space events coming in 2022!
2022 has gone off to a good start with the successful launch of the James Webb Space
Telescope, and we are just several months away from getting the first stunning pictures
from the new and powerful space telescope.
However, the excitement of the new observation station is not enough to overshadow
the space event that the universe has lined up for the space community!
We will go over these insane events one after the
other, and be sure to update your calendars, so you don't miss them!
This year, we are promised a series of eclipses.
While eclipses are not new, they are still rare enough to generate lots of interest
in the media when they are about to happen.
Also, not all eclipses are the same because some are rarer and more
fascinating than others!
Which Up to seven eclipses of the Sun and Moon can
occur in one year, though the last time that happened was 1982, and the fewest possible
is four.
This year, we get the minimum, that is, four, which is why they
are extra special!
The first one will not occur until April 30.
And we are getting two lunar and two solar eclipses.
If you had been looking forward to full solar eclipses, you
are out of luck because the two will be partial.
What causes eclipses, however?
A solar eclipse, such as the one observed from coast
to coast across the U.S. in August 2017, occurs only at new Moons when the lunar disk
passes directly between the Sun and us, and consequently, the Moon's shadow falls
somewhere on Earth's surface.
However, a lunar eclipse occurs during the full Moon,
when the Moon passes through Earth's shadow.
These alignments don't happen at every new and full Moon because the lunar
orbit is tipped about 5° to Earth's orbital plane, and it is only occasionally that the
Sun, Earth, and Moon line up exactly enough for an eclipse to occur.
Well, the technical name for that is syzygy.
Have fun pronouncing that!
Talking about lunar eclipses, there are possible types; total, partial, and penumbral.
The type depends on how deeply the full Moon plunges
into or near the umbra, our planet's dark, central shadow.
If the Moon goes all the way in, we end up with a total lunar
eclipse which is preceded and followed by partial phases.
If the moon ventures just partly into the umbra, only the partial phases
occur!
You will sight some of the Moon in nearly full sunlight and some of it steeped
in the deep, red-tinged umbral shadow.
And if its disk passes just outside the umbra, the Moon still encounters the weak
penumbral shadow cast by Earth.
If you are sharp-eyed enough, you will observe that
one side of the Full Moon's disk looks a little dusky.
All four of 2020's lunar eclipses were the penumbral kind.
For a solar eclipse, the Moon has to cross directly in front of the Sun as seen from
Earth, whether annular or total.
These solar eclipses can only occur within a two-week-
long interval when the Moon crosses the ecliptic during one of its two nodal crossings
each year.
However, the geometric window for partial solar eclipses is wider, roughly
five weeks long.
If the Moon covers the Sun entirely, the eclipse is considered total.
Occasionally the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun but
doesn't completely cover it.
When that occurs, it's usually because the Moon is farther
from Earth than its average distance.
This geometric circumstance is called an annular eclipse because you can see a ring, or
annulus, of sunlight surrounding the lunar disk.
Annular eclipses of the Sun occur about as often as the total ones.
The solar eclipse coming up on the last day of April is partial.
However, it won't be seen by a great many people.
The greatest eclipse, with just over half the area of the Sun's
disk covered, is viewable at 20:41 Universal Time from a point in the Southern Ocean
roughly halfway between South America's Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula.
That said, the timing and geometry are favorable for South Americans are luckier this
time because everyone in Chile and Argentina, including some parts of Peru, Bolivia,
Paraguay, and Uruguay, be treated to a partial cover-up from late afternoon until
sunset.
The next eclipse for 2022 comes up on May 16, and it is of the total lunar flavor!
The Sun, Moon, and Earth will again line up to
create this one.
It will be the first time that everyone in the contiguous U.S. will have
a chance to see a totally-eclipsed Moon since January 2018!
The eclipse will be sighted throughout Europe and Africa in the hours
before dawn, but, for observers across North and South America, most of the action will
take place late on the evening of Sunday, May 15!
The third eclipse of the year comes up on October 25, when the solar system will serve
us another partial solar eclipse.
This one will show up in over a wide swath of the
Eastern Hemisphere stretching from Iceland to western India!
However, if you are in Europe, the Middle East, western Asia, and
northeast Africa, you will have the front row
seats.
The Moon takes its biggest bite of the Sun's disk as seen from a bleak, nearly
uninhabited tract of the West Siberian Plain, some 1,500 miles to the east-northeast of
Moscow.
The eclipse events of 2022 will round off with a November 8th total lunar eclipse.
As with May's event, this eclipse will be seen
across the contiguous U.S.
This eclipse offers two rare treats.
First, it occurs during the annual display of Taurid meteors.
The second treat involves the planet Uranus, which will
appear just a couple of degrees to the Moon's east during the eclipse.
Coincidentally, this distant planet reaches opposition on
November 8 and so will be at its brightest.
If you have a pair of binoculars, you should spot the planet easily.
2022, however, is not going to be all about eclipses.
It is a year we will see a number of oppositions.
In case you wonder what an opposition is in space, it means a planet is
opposite the Sun.
So, for example, the planets with orbits inside Earth's orbit, Mercury
and Venus, can't be at opposition.
But the planets orbiting outside Earth's orbit – Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune – all can.
Once each year, we pass between them and the Sun in our smaller, faster orbit.
If the Sun is setting in the west, and Jupiter is rising
in the east, Jupiter is at opposition.
Earth is passing between the Sun and Jupiter, which
will take all night to cross our sky.
Oppositions are special because that is the time the
planet is easiest to observe.
And this is because it's generally closest to Earth and
visible throughout the night!
Also, since the Sun and outer planet are directly opposite each other in Earth's sky, we
see that far-off planet's fully lit daytime side.
Fully lit planets appear brighter to us than ones not completely lit.
Now, when you come to think about it, the Moon can also be in
opposition!
During the Moon's full phase, it's directly opposite the Sun in the sky, fully
illuminated, and at its brightest for that orbit!
2022 is packed with oppositions, and astronomers will have a field day with them!
However, all of them are in the second half of the year.
So if you plan to observe them, you should mark your calendars, so you don't
forget!
The first one comes up on August 1 to 2, and it will involve the planet Saturn.
However, we will have a second leg of the opposition
on August 14.
The second opposition of 2022 involves Jupiter, and we will see the
first leg in the same August, on the 19th.
The return leg occurs the following month, on
September 26.
That's not all because September will usher in Neptune oppositions, the first one taking
place on September 14 while the second one comes up two days later.
In October, prepare to see Mars in opposition on the 13th
and prepare for the second one on December 8, 2022.
In fact, these are the best time for astronauts going to Mars to take
off from the Earth!
Take note, Elon Musk!
Actually, it is the same for all the other planet
oppositions.
Uranus will close the opposition show for the year with a first appearance on November
4 to 5th, with the second one coming up on November 9!
Other space attractions coming up in 2022 include the alignment of planets.
In the second half of June, skywatchers will be treated
to a beautiful alignment of the planets in the same order as they are from the Sun
in our solar system; Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
They will be visible during the twilight hours spanning in the eastern
and southeastern sky in the latter half of June.
If you are a fan of meteor showers, 2022 will treat you to the Geminid shower in the last
month!
Meteor showers arise when the Earth passes through streams of debris left
behind in the wake of comets and asteroids.
Over time, the pieces of grit-like debris in
these streams distribute themselves along the length of the parent object's orbit around
the solar system.
On certain days of the year, the Earth's orbit passes through particularly dense streams,
associated with comets or asteroids which have vented vast amounts of solid material
to space, and this gives rise to an annual meteor shower.
Such showers recur yearly whenever the Earth passes a particular point
in its orbit where it crosses a particular stream of material.
The Geminid meteor shower will be active from December 4 to December 17, producing
its peak rate of meteors around December 14.
The shower is likely to deliver its best displays in the hours around 02:00 WAT when
its radiant point is highest in the sky.
Let's hear the space event you are most excited about in 2022 in the comment section
below!