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Watch the Sky: From Meteor Showers to Planet Conjunctions — Best Sky Events to Catch in April 2022 | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

Watch the Sky: From Meteor Showers to Planet Conjunctions — Best Sky Events to Catch in April 2022 | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com
Sky chart showing the close conjunction of Mars and Saturn before sunrise on April 4. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Sky chart showing the close conjunction of Mars and Saturn before sunrise on April 4.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

If you can tolerate the scorching temperatures, there’s a bright side to April’s summer days, especially if you are a star-gazer: stunning, clear skies.

They provide an impeccable chance to cherish the beauty of our cosmic neighbourhood, and this April has some big astronomical events in store — ranging from meteor showers to the conjunction of planets.

Here’s a complete list, so you can clear your calendars in advance and pin down the dates:

April 1

On this day, planets Mars, Saturn, and Venus will be positioned in a straight line in the southeastern sky.

Also, this day marks the New Moon phase, making it the ideal time to capture faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters with no interference from moonlight.

April 4

Saturn and Mars will make a close approach during the dawn and be visible in the same field of the telescope. The pair can be spotted in the constellation Capricornus before sunrise.

April 16

This would be the night of a fully illuminated Moon. Depending on which part of the world you live in, this particular Full Moon is also referred to as the Pink Moon, Sprouting Grass Moon, the Growing Moon, Fish Moon and the Egg Moon.

April 21-22

Sky-watchers can witness peak Lyrid meteor shower on these nights. Named after the constellation Lyra, it is regarded as one of the oldest recorded meteor showers.

The annual meteor shower is usually active between April 16 to 25, and produces over 20 meteors per hour on peak nights.

All you need to watch them is a clear sky, away from city lights.

April 25

Early risers will be able to spot Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon in the morning sky. The alignment can be spotted on the eastern horizon.

April 29

Planet Mercury will reach its Greatest Eastern Elongation of 20.6 degrees from the Sun. The planet can be spotted in the western sky just after sunset.

April 30

A partial solar eclipse will gaze the sky, but it will only be visible from southern South America, parts of Antarctica, and over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

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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

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)

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)

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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For weather, science, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It’s free!

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ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 Detects Massive Solar Proton Events Undetected by Most Global Satellites | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 Detects Massive Solar Proton Events Undetected by Most Global Satellites | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

A long filament of solar material hovering in the Sun’s atmosphere.

(NASA Goddard)

Our Sun is a giant ball of hot plasma, and it supports a dynamic atmosphere that affects nearly everything in the solar system. Notably, the powerful eruptions from the Sun—flares and coronal mass ejections—spew a stream of charged particles throughout the solar system. Some eruptions are so powerful that they can completely disrupt satellite-based communication on Earth.

Therefore, multiple space missions from space agencies across the globe study the dynamics of the Sun with keen eyes. The Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 is one among them, even though its primary mission is to study the Moon.

Recently, the Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer onboard ISRO’s C-2 orbiter recorded powerful solar proton events from the Sun. What makes it an even more exciting feat is that most global missions could not detect such a strong energy output.

In a media statement, ISRO revealed that the event was “seen” by NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellite too but remained undetected by it. The GOES satellite failed to detect the event since it orbits around Earth and the Earth’s magnetic field protects the planet from such harmful solar events.

Chandrayan spacecraft.

(IANS)

On the other hand, orbiting the Moon, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter was able to detect it as charged particles rushed through.

There are five classes of solar flares basically characterised as A, B, C, M, and X—from smallest to most extreme. Among these, the M and X classes of flares are said to be the most powerful ones.

“Each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. This means that an M class flare is ten times more intense than a C-class flare and 100 times more intense than a B-class flare. Within each letter class, there is a finer scale from 1 to 9, i.e., an M2 flare is twice the strength of M1 flare,” explains ISRO.

Chandrayaan-2 orbiter’s instrument detected two M-class solar flares—M5.5 and M1.5—released from the Sun this January. Despite the tragic end to the lander, Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter continues to beam back valuable details.

Another critical observation made by the instrument was the release of energetic particles with one of the flares. It found that Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) accompanied the flare M1.5, consisting of energetic particles due to high-intensity solar flares. This event is also known as the solar proton event or SPEs.

Such high energy protons can severely impact space systems and increase the risk of harmful radiation to astronauts in space. The recorded CME travelled at about 1000 km/s and took at least 2-3 days to reach Earth.

“Such multi-point observations help us understand the propagation and its impact on different planetary systems,” reads ISRO’s statement. As the space agency gears up for the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission this year, the orbiter’s success in collecting crucial data about our cosmic neighbourhood remains encouraging.

Chandrayaan-2 holds credit for unravelling several intriguing mysteries, like confirming the presence of water molecules on the Moon to demystifying the coronal heating process.

ISRO launched the second lunar mission in July 2019, and nearly a month later, on August 20, 2019, the historic lunar mission spacecraft entered lunar orbit. The Chandrayaan-2 mission is believed to be 95-98% successful due to precise mission management that has ensured a long life for the orbiter.

ISRO is also aiming to launch several other ambitious missions this year, namely Aditya L1, Gaganyaan’s first uncrewed flight, and other Earth observation satellites.

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