Coming soon to a night sky near you: some spectacular celestial events durhamregion.com
Tag: Spectacular
4th of July Fireworks Spectacular | Events Calendar | City Of Yuma, AZ – yumaaz.gov
Kazakhstan Celebrates International Children’s Day With an Array of Spectacular Events Nationwide – The Astana Times
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated the country’s citizens on International Children’s Day which was celebrated on June 1, reports the presidential press service.
According to data released by the Kazakh Bureau of National statistics, approximately 6.5 million children under the age of 18 live in Kazakhstan. Photo credit: 24.kz
“International Children’s Day is a lovely holiday filled with special joy and warmth. This day reminds us once again that nothing is more important than the happiness and smiles of children,” said Tokayev.
The head of the state highlighted that many valuable projects and activities are being carried out to unleash the potential of each child as part of the Year of Children in 2022, which he declared in his New Year congratulatory address.
Joining the president’s congratulations, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said at the June 1 government meeting that the most important task of the state is to create comfortable conditions for children in terms of learning, comprehensive development, recreation and medical care.
According to Smailov, providing safety for children in the street, near water and at various excursions remains the main task. He instructed officials to strengthen the work of the relevant services and provide the majority of children from socially vulnerable groups with more opportunities for rehabilitation, summer vacation and employment.
The country’s plan of activities for the Year of Children includes 66 events in seven areas aimed at ensuring safety, health, education, and recreation.
One of these events was the Almaty BalaFest Kids’ festival, which Tokayev attended on June 1 during his working visit to Almaty from May 31 to June 1. He congratulated the winners of the festival, which gathered approximately 300,000 participants to compete in literature, fine art, sports, arts and crafts, eco-competition, singing, dancing, and the IT sphere.
Tokayev during meeting with Almaty BalaFest Kids’ festival’s winners on June 1. Photo credit: Akorda Press
On the same day, the 17th Zhuldyzai charitable inclusive festival was held in Turkistan. This is the country’s only creative contest for children with physical and mental challenges to date.
“Since 2005, our festival has gathered more than 300 talented participants from 10 to 18 years old, and this number is growing every year. The selection is carried out at regional and national levels in four categories: singing, dancing, instrumental performance and sign singing,” said Zhuldyzai Public Fund Director Gulkhan Issabayeva in an interview with Zakon.kz news agency.
Some participants of Zhuldyzai festival in Turkistan. Photo credit: Zhuldyzai Public Fund
Overall, numerous festivities dedicated to the holiday were held nationwide, while nearly 60 events, including concerts, sports competitions, contests and entertaining games, took place in the Kazakh capital on June 1.
On Sunday, the night sky will offer something of spectacular beauty | CBC News
On Sunday night if the skies are clear, Canadians will be able to watch one of the most beautiful celestial events there is: a total lunar eclipse.
This is the first total lunar eclipse of the year and the first since last May. The best part is it will be visible across the entire country, though not all Canadians will see the full five-and-a-half hour event.
The eclipse begins late Sunday evening and lasts until early Monday morning.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes through Earth’s shadow.
The moon actually has two shadows: One is the penumbra — Earth’s fainter outer shadow — but it’s almost imperceptible to the human eye. The most exciting and dramatic part, however, is when the moon glides across Earth’s inner, darker shadow, the umbra.
During this time, depending on the atmosphere, the moon can appear to turn a shade of red, which is why sometimes total lunar eclipses are referred to as “blood moons.”
This eclipse also occurs close to when the moon is at perigee, or closest in its monthly orbit — which is why this is sometimes called a “supermoon” lunar eclipse (though it’s difficult for humans to notice the slight size difference).
And as if a “blood moon” and a “supermoon” weren’t enough names for this event, this month is also the “flower moon.” the name given by the Old Farmer’s Almanac for this month’s full moon.
How to see it
Unlike total solar eclipses, where totality (when the moon covers the disk of the sun) can last just a minute or a few, totality in lunar eclipses can last for more than an hour.
In Sunday’s eclipse, totality will last about 85 minutes.
The eclipse itself, however, will last roughly five and a half hours. It begins when the moon enters the penumbra, but as mentioned earlier, it will be imperceptible to the human eye.
The excitement begins when the moon enters the umbra. Initially, it will appear as though something has taken a little bite out of the moon. This is the partial phase of the eclipse. As the night progresses, however, that “bite” becomes larger and larger.
Then, as it enters totality, most of the moon may appear a faint reddish colour as Earth’s atmosphere scatters the light from the sun, which will lie directly behind it. Light with longer wavelengths — such as orange and red — refract, or bend, around the Earth, where it eventually reaches the moon.
There are some predictions that, due to the dust released in the giant Tongan volcanoe eruption in January, the dust in the atmosphere may make this a dark eclipse: Instead of being red, it may be darkened by quite a bit.
The eclipse will be seen in its entirety in the east and will be underway when the moon rises west of Ontario.
In order to enjoy it, all you have to do is go outside and look up — and hope for clear skies. No binoculars or telescope is needed, although since the eclipse begins late in the evening in some parts of the country and lasts for almost six hours, you may want to stay up late.
And if you’re clouded out, you can watch it live online at The Virtual Telescope Project.
Watch the Sky: A Guide to the Spectacular Celestial Events In Store for March 2022 | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com
March offers the best opportunity to explore celestial events and capture the beauty of cosmic objects, as the Indian skies will remain mostly clear throughout the month.
Here’s a list of events that will brighten up the March skies:
March 5
The red planet Mars will be close to globular star clusters Messier 75 and NGC 6864 in the southeastern sky. They will appear together, like in a close circle, if seen through a telescope, especially between March 4-6.
Pluto can also be spotted just 1.5 degrees to the west of the cluster, although the dwarf planet will be too faint to be seen from telescopes.
March 6
The night sky will be illuminated by a waxing crescent Moon. Planet Uranus can also be spotted near it.
March 8
A half-illuminated Moon will be seen among the constellation Taurus or the Bull.
March 10
It marks the first quarter of the Moon.
March 12
The Lunar Straight Wall, also known as the Rupes Recta, can be easily seen through a telescope. This linear feature of the lunar surface appears bright due to the Sun’s light.
See Saturn, Venus, and Mars in the pre-dawn sky in March, with Saturn becoming more noticeable after around March 18 or 19.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech)
March 16
Venus and Mars will come closest to each other in the southeastern sky before dawn. For astrophotography lovers, it can be an interesting shot, as bright Venus and dim Mars will reach their minimum separation of 3.9 degrees.
March 18
The full Moon will illuminate the night sky.
March 20
It is the day of Equinox, as the Sun will be equidistant from all locations on Earth, making day and night of nearly the same duration. At the equator, the Sun will be directly overhead at mid-noon. This occasion also marks the onset of spring for those who have been experiencing winters.
On the same day, the planet Venus will reach its maximum angle from the Sun at about 46.5 degrees west in the sky. It is likely to shine at magnitude -4.5 in the direction of the southeastern sky before sunrise.
March 21
Jupiter and Mercury will shine bright just above the eastern horizon, with the former likely to be three times brighter than the latter.
March 25
This day marks the third quarter phase of the Moon.
March 28
The early morning hours will offer a stunning view of the crescent moon shining alongside the planetary trio of Mars, Venus and Saturn in the southeastern sky.
March 29
If you missed the chance to watch the aforementioned trio on March 28, fret not, as the planets will appear together again on this day.
Meanwhile, Saturn and Venus will be also positioned at 2.2 degrees from each other.
March 30
A great time to spot Jupiter, as the gas giant will appear like a bright dot in the southwest sky during the morning hours.
The constellation Canis Major contains a star – 7 Canis Majoris – known to have at least two planets.
(NASA/Bill Dunford)
Spot the suns
NASA highlights that March is the best month to locate some of the distant suns, as these bright stars will be easy to find throughout the month.
These include Epsilon Tauri, an orange dwarf star that supports a gas giant eight times more massive than Jupiter. It can be spotted to the right of Taurus, as per NASA.
7 Canis Majoris, which supports two planets, will be visible at the centre of the dog constellation; and Tau Geminorum, which has a planet with 20 times the mass of Jupiter, can be spotted in the castor group of the Gemini constellation.
A great chance to peer into other planetary systems!
Star clusters
During March evenings, high above in the southwest direction, stargazers can spot the Hyades star cluster. It can be located with the help of the Y-shaped constellation Taurus.
The Pleiades, an open cluster, can also be seen in Taurus.
These star clusters will be visible through unaided eyes provided the sky is clear, but for the best view, use binoculars.
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