Astronomy Events

C/2019 2I Borisov – Intersteller Comet Closet Approach - Sun 29th Dec 2019

C/2019 Q4 would be just the second visitor from another star system ever detected, after the 2017 discovery of the enigmatic space rock known as ‘Oumuamua. While its origins are not yet entirely certain, C/2019 Q4 is a confirmed comet. Already, astronomers have detected that the object—which is probably a couple miles across—has a coma, the fuzzy sheath of dust and gas that forms as sunlight heats up a comet’s icy surface.

That means scientists will be able to collect much more data on its composition than they could for ‘Oumuamua. For one, C/2019 Q4 is bigger and brighter, which offers more opportunities to study its light and tease out chemical clues. What’s more, astronomers discovered ‘Oumuamua only on its way out of the solar system—but C/2019 Q4 is still inbound. It will make its closest approach to the sun on December 7, and it will come closest to Earth, within 290 million kilometres, on December 29 (via National Geographic)

Latest Event - Geminid Meteor Shower – Dec 4th to 17th

The Geminid meteor shower is an annual meteor shower that occurs in mid-December. It is called the Geminid meteor shower because the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini in the night sky. The Geminid meteor shower is usually one of the best meteor showers of the year, with up to 120 meteors visible per hour at its peak. The Geminids are caused by debris from an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the Sun once every 1.4 years.

The meteors are visible from around December 4th to 17th each year, with the peak of the shower occurring on the night of December 13th and the early morning of December 14th. To see the Geminids, you should go to a location with a clear, dark sky and look up towards the constellation Gemini. The best time to view the meteor shower is from around 10:00 p.m. to dawn.