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There will be plenty of delights for stargazers in the night sky in 2024.
A full moon and meteor showers will illuminate the sky. The increase in solar activity is expected to cause auroras that will create colorful images. And eclipse chasers have been counting down to 2024 since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017; because the total solar eclipse will travel across the United States in April.
Many nights there will be opportunities to spot different planets or search for the International Space Station orbiting Earth.
Have your telescopes and binoculars ready and don’t forget to buy a pair of eclipse glasses so you can watch the total solar eclipse safely.
Full moons and supermoons
According to EarthSky, 12 full moons will occur in 2024, and lunar events in September and October will also be considered supermoon.
Definitions of a supermoon may vary, but the term generally refers to a full moon that is closer to Earth than usual and therefore appears larger and brighter in the night sky. Some astronomers say this event occurs when the Moon is 90% close to perigee, that is, when it is closest to the Earth in orbit.
According to the Farmers’ Almanac, each month’s full moon is associated with a specific name. However, full moons have various names and meanings according to different indigenous tribes.
Here are the full moons of 2024:
January 25: Wolf Moon
February 24: Snowy month
March 25: Worm moon
April 23: Pink moon
May 23: Flower moon
June 21: Strawberry moon
July 21: Buck moon
August 19: Sturgeon moon
September 17: Harvest Moon
October 17: Hunter’s Moon
November 15: Beaver Moon
December 15: Cold month
Solar and lunar eclipses
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, multiple eclipses will occur in 2024, including two types of lunar eclipses and two types of solar eclipses.
The most anticipated of these events is the total solar eclipse that will occur on April 8 and will be visible from Mexico, the USA and Canada. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, completely blocking the Sun’s face.
Those on the path of totality or places where the moon’s shadow will completely block the sun will see a total solar eclipse. People outside the path of totality will still be able to see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon obscures only part of the sun’s face.
A total solar eclipse will not be visible again in the contiguous United States until August 2044.
On October 2, an annular solar eclipse will occur in the sky over parts of South America. This type of eclipse is similar to a total solar eclipse; However, the Moon is at the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, so it cannot completely block the sun. Instead, annular solar eclipses create a “ring of fire” in the sky as the sun’s fiery light surrounds the moon’s shadow.
Meanwhile, the penumbra lunar eclipse will be visible to many people in Europe, North and East Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America from March 24-25.
A lunar eclipse, which causes the Moon to appear dark or faint, occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon align and the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow. A penumbra lunar eclipse is more subtle and occurs when the moon passes through the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra.
The partial lunar eclipse, in which the Earth moves out of perfect alignment between the sun and the full moon, will be visible across Europe as well as much of Asia, Africa, North America and South America from September 17-18.
Check the Time and Date website to see when each of these eclipses will appear.
Solar activity and auroras
The Sun is expected to reach solar maximum, or the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, in mid-to-late 2024.
When the sun is active, it emits powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that erupt from the sun’s outer atmosphere. Solar storms produced by the Sun can affect power grids, GPS, aviation, and satellites in low Earth orbit. These events also cause radio blackouts and even pose risks to crewed space missions.
The Space Weather Prediction Center, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, will monitor the sun closely and issue warnings and forecasts about solar activity that could affect Earth.
Scientists are looking forward to what they can learn about the sun’s activities by observing the sun during the total solar eclipse in April.
But a more positive side effect of increased solar activity is the auroras that dance around the Earth’s poles, known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis, and the southern lights, or aurora australis.
When energetic particles from coronal mass ejections reach the Earth’s magnetic field, they interact with gases in the atmosphere, creating different colored lights in the sky.
In 2023, Sun-induced geomagnetic storms caused auroras to be visible in rarely seen locations, including the United States as far south as New Mexico, Missouri, North Carolina and California, southeastern England and other parts of the world. United Kingdom.
Depending on location, auroras may not always be visible above, but they create a colorful display on the horizon.
meteor shower
The new year begins almost immediately with a meteor shower. The Quadrantid meteor shower is expected to peak between January 3-4, according to EarthSky.
There is some lull in meteor shower activity after the Quadrantids, and the next one won’t occur until April. Fortunately, there are plenty of celestial events to expect during the long wait.
Here is the complete list of meteor showers that will occur in 2024, according to the American Meteor Society.
Quadrantids: January 3-4
Lyrics: 21-22 April
Eta Aquariums: May 4-5
Southern delta Aquariums: 30-31 July
Alpha Capricorn: July 30-31
Perseids: August 12-13
Draconids: October 7-8
Orionids: October 21-22
Southern Taurus Mountains: 5-6 November
Northern Taurus Mountains: 11-12 November
Leonids: November 17-18
Gemini: December 13-14
Ursids: December 21-22
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