The superconjunction of Mercury (locating this planet behind the Sun) marks the first dawn of this month. On the same day, the moment of the greatest apparent approximation (pulse) occurred between the planets Venus and Mars. These stars were seen in the west at dusk that day, at the same time that the Moon appeared in the southeast next to the constellation Scorpius.
The first day marked the 30th anniversary of the first observations of the comet. Shoemaker-Levy 9 by the Hubble Space Telescope. This was a comet that broke when it passed near Jupiter the year before, and whose planet will collide a year later, the first collision with a planet in the solar system (other than Earth) that we observe.
Yesterday, the third, the moon was full. Because this ephemeris occurs a day and a half before the moon reaches perigee (the point of its orbit closest to Earth), the moon appeared a little larger than usual: it was the famous supermoon.
At about 8 pm on the sixth day, the Earth reaches aphelion, which is the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun (distance 1.0167 astronomical units). But because at this time of year our hemisphere is facing the sun, it ends up receiving more solar radiation than when it is closer to the sun.
After five hours of this astronomical calendar, the Moon will rise next to the planet Saturn, which these days is in the constellation Aquarius.
On this same day, Day 7 marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the rover Mars Exploration Rover-B (also known as an opportunity) by NASA from its base at Cape Canaveral. For 14 years and 4 months, this mission helped us get to know Mars better.
One day later, it will be the 90th anniversary of its publication in the journal. nature Karl Jansky’s discovery of radio waves emitted from the direction of the center of our galaxy. For this and other works in this field, Jansky is called the father of radio astronomy, which is why there is a unit of radio radiation flux per unit surface named after him (jansky), as well as a crater on the eastern edge of the Moon.
The fourth quarter will occur at the dawn of the tenth day, and on the same day Mars will approach Regulus, the heart of the constellation Leo. After dawn on Monday, we will witness the birth of the moon next to Jupiter.
On the 17th of the month, the new moon will begin. That is why we will see our natural satellite again only in the late afternoon of the 19th, when it will be next to Mercury.
The first quarter coincides with the last Tuesday of the month. Two days later, the closest approach between the planets Mercury and Venus will occur.
During the second half of the month, some very high stars will appear, which will appear to come from the vicinity of the star Delta in the constellation of Aquarius.
These meteors will form part of the Delta-Aquarid star shower, whose peak activity occurs at dawn on the 28th. Unfortunately, even under ideal observing conditions, this peak never exceeds twenty meteors per hour.
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