5 must-watch stargazing events in 2022 you cannot miss
Hyderabad: If you’re someone who enjoys stargazing, then 2022 will be a promising year for you. There are many celestial events like meteor showers, interesting planet alignments, blood moons, and the Flower Moon total lunar eclipse to keep you peeping into your telescope. Thanks to Omicron, we may not be able to step out of the house much this year, too, but that doesn’t mean you cannot step into an even more magical place. Without teasing you further, we bring to you a list of heavenly delights that you cannot miss this coming year.
January 3 and 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks
A delight for the Northern Hemisphere sky-watchers, the first major meteor shower of 2022, the Quadrantids, peaks on the night of January 3 and in the early morning hours of January 4. This New Year’s shower is known to produce brighter-than-average shooting stars, with 25 to 100 visible meteors per hour depending on local light pollution, as reported on National Geographic.com. Like all meteor showers, the best way to see as many shooting stars as possible is to find a viewing location away from city lights and wait for about 20 minutes to let your eyes fully adjust to the late-night darkness.
March 24 to April 5: Venus, Mars, and Saturn in a planetary dance
From late March to early April, early risers in both hemispheres will get to see some of the brightest neighbouring planets perform a majestic celestial ballet. Look to the low southeastern skies about an hour before local sunrise to catch Venus, Mars, and Saturn grouped together in a tight triangular cluster.
May 5 and 6: Eta Aquarids
Meteor watchers are in for a treat in early May, as sky conditions should be nearly perfect for the peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. The best views for this shower are expected in the predawn hours of May 5. The waxing crescent moon will set early in the evening the night before, leaving skies dark enough for watchers to glimpse even the faintest shooting stars.
May 15 and 16: Flower Moon total lunar eclipse
The first of two total lunar eclipses of 2022 will occur on May 15 or 16, depending on where you are. Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth, and Moon align such that the moon crosses through Earth’s shadow, darkening and reddening its silvery disk in our skies. This particular lunar eclipse will be visible from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia.
June 18 to 27: Five (possibly six) planets align
Sky-watchers who set their alarm clocks early in June will be able to catch a rare line-up of all the major planets visible to the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Uranus—though seeing the final planet requires pristine sky conditions. To cap it off, the moon will pass near each of these worlds between June 18 and June 27. On June 24 and 25 the crescent moon will glide past the ice giant Uranus and make it easier to hunt down, especially using binoculars.
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