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Next week's most noteworthy celestial phenomena are the Great Quadrant Meteor Shower on January 4, and mercury on January 7, and some interesting celestial phenomena in the new year.
2022 meteor shower outlook
The first important celestial phenomenon to appear on the starry sky stage each year is the quadrant meteor shower, which is one of the three major meteor showers in the northern hemisphere every year, with a maximum peak flow of 120 per hour. The maximum time for the 2022 forecast is 4:40 a.m. on January 4. The most suitable time for observation is the early morning of January 4, which is the second half of the night of January 3.
Schematic map of the radiation points of the quadrant meteor swarm around 4 a.m. on January 4 Source: Star Map Software
The radiation point of this meteor shower is located at the junction of the constellations Ofos, Draco and Vicaris. Because the radiation point is relatively northern, for the area north of Beijing, the radiation point is above the horizon all night, but when it is just dark, the radiation point position is very low, close to the northern horizon. It will rise high enough before dawn to be more suitable for observation in the middle of the night.
Quadrant meteor showers are characterized by a very short maximum period of time, up to a few hours. Before and after the traffic is small, sometimes very large will appear in the daytime, coupled with the meteor shower forecast is difficult to be particularly accurate, but also to avoid the influence of moonlight, so in the cold and frozen northern winter night people do not have the opportunity to see this meteor shower. The maximum time of the 2022 meteor shower forecast is exactly the early morning of our country, the radiation point can rise very high, plus the day is the second day of the first lunar calendar, and the moon has no impact on the observation. The observation conditions are very good and the opportunity is rare.
Look ahead to other meteor showers in 2022. The Perseid Meteor Shower and the Gemini Meteor Shower are the other two larger meteor showers each year. The Perseid meteor shower activity period lasts for more than a month from July 17 to August 24, 2022, and generally around August 13 of each year, the meteor flow reaches a maximum, and the maximum peak flow per hour can reach more than 100. The maximum period of the 2022 Perseid meteor shower forecast coincides with the full moon, and the strong moonlight will have a serious impact on observations and are not suitable for observation.
The maximum time for the 2022 Gemini meteor shower forecast is 21:00 Beijing time on December 14, with a maximum peak flow of 150 per hour. At this time, just six days after the full moon, the moon will rise about 4 hours after dark, and the moon will seriously affect observations after midnight. However, the moon is still below the horizon when the forecast meteor shower is extreme. Observations are unaffected, except that in mid-December, Gemini rises from the north-east horizon shortly after dark, and by the time the moon rises, the height of the radiation point is not too high.
There will also be several moderate-flow meteor showers in 2022, including the extreme Lyra meteor shower on April 23, the Aquarius η meteor shower on May 6, and the Orion meteor shower around October 21, but the flow cannot be compared with the three major meteor showers.
Mercury east of the large distance
On January 7, 2022, Mercury appeared in a low south-by-west altitude about half an hour after sunset, with a brightness of -0.6, which was the first opportunity to observe Mercury in the evening in 2022.
Evening January 7, 2022 Schematic diagram of Mercury's position Source: Star Map Software
For the Beijing area, at sunset, Mercury's horizon altitude is 14 degrees, and the height of the observation can be around 8 degrees when it is dark, and in the case of good weather, there is a full opportunity to observe it with the help of binoculars. If you use a lens with a focal length of less than 50 mm, you can also shoot Jupiter and Saturn at the same time. Because at this time, Jupiter and Saturn are also in the southwest sky, together with Mercury, distributed in a small range of about 25 degrees. From January 4th to 6th, a round of crooked crescents will also join their ranks, passing by mercury, Saturn and Jupiter in turn, forming a so-called "three-star moon" celestial phenomenon, which is a good opportunity to take a group photo of these four famous celestial bodies.
Planetary Moon 2022
There will be at least two more such opportunities in 2022, and in late March and early April, Venus, Mars, and Saturn will meet at a closer distance, most recently gathering in the range of 5 degrees and 6 degrees, and appearing in the low south-southeast before dawn. On March 28, a remnant moon movement moved not far from them, forming a three-star moon of gold, fire, and earth. At that time, the brightest of the three planets, Venus, is located in the upper left, with a brightness of -4.3 magnitudes. Saturn is about 2 and a half degrees below Venus and has a brightness of 0.8 magnitude. The darkest Mars is more than 5 degrees to the right of Venus, with a brightness of 1.1 magnitude. The Moon is still in the lower right of Mars, about 6 degrees from Mars.
Schematic diagram of the relative positions of Venus, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon before dawn on March 28, 2022 Source: Star Mapping Software
In mid-to-late April, the distance between Venus, Mars, and Saturn has gradually widened, and Jupiter is slowly approaching them, joining them, and finally lined up along the ecliptic in the low eastern sky before dawn around April 20, almost equally distributed in a range of more than 30 degrees. Jupiter is on the left, with the lowest altitude, and Saturn is the farthest on the right, with the highest altitude in the middle, Venus and Mars. On April 25-28, the Remnant Moon will join their queue. The five major celestial bodies in the solar system are the same as the night sky, but they are missing the rare Mercury.
The moon runs in the sky for a week every month. In the process, these bright large planets will pass through successively to form a planetary moon, so every month there will be a planetary moon. It's just that the distance between the moon and the planet will be different every time, and the closer the distance, the more rare it is. The close proximity of two planets is a relatively rare phenomenon. On April 5, Mars joins Saturn, May 1 Venus merges with Jupiter, and On May 29 Mars merges with Jupiter, the distance between the two planets will be less than one degree.
2022 "Supermoon"
The "largest and roundest" moon in 2022, the so-called "supermoon", will appear in the early morning of July 14. The time of the full moon on that day is around 3 o'clock, and the time of the moon's perigee is at 17 o'clock on July 13, a difference of less than 10 hours. The previous full moon appeared at around 20:00 on June 14 at 7:00 on June 15, after the full moon, which was more than 11 hours away from the full moon time, and it was also a "supermoon".
Source: Beijing Planetarium