Celestial Events

November 14 presents the moon’s closest encounter with Earth in over 68 years, since January 26, 1948. The full moon on November 14, 2016, will feature the closest full moon (356,509 kilometers) until November 25, 2034 (356,448 kilometers). What is a Supermoon? A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The Moon's distance varies each month between approximately 357,000 kilometers (222,000 mi) and 406,000 km (252,000 mi) due to its elliptical orbit around the [...]

Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks on 11th -13th August 2013 The Perseid meteor shower is a major annual event for sky-watchers and 2013 looks to be a great show. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year. Luckily, the Moon (the source of light at night in the sky), will be set before the midnight, that is before the peak time of shower of meteor shower. That means no Moon to disturb us. Known as the most fantastic and accessible meteor shower of the year, the Perseids are expected to fill the "predawn skies with hundreds of shooting stars" on [...]

The wide expanse of universe always has some secrets in store for humans, some mysteries for individuals to solve, and for humans to witness new phenomena. If you want to witness such a strange phenomenon, which will probably be the first or the second time in the lives of the 80s and 90s people, then you should definitely get up after dawn tomorrow to witness it. Now, what is this unlikely thing, which will occur? Venus, one of the planets of our solar system is visible on the sky many times of the year. However, how would you like to see [...]

The transparency in Karachi was extra-good since a couple of days, so today's 31 hour old Moon seemed game for a crescent hunt. I asked Ebrahim and Ramiz to come over to the FFO (informal name for my home). Both were very interested, but Ebrahim could not make it due to certain reasons. Ramiz, however, was at my place about 20 minutes before sunset and both of us happily went to the roof. The transparency was indeed very good, with few clouds and a tad bit of haze low on the horizon. Ramiz managed to capture the Sun just before it [...]

Don’t See Lunar Eclipse or You Will be Blind – a Common Myth You might have heard many people saying this: “Chand Girhan nahi dekhna warna indhay ho jaoge”. Many people believe this to be a fact, but in reality it is nothing more than just a myth. We all know from primary classes that the Moon doesn’t have its own light. The light on the Moon is Sun’s light being reflected from the Moon and coming on the surface of Earth. If you think logically, the Lunar Eclipse is an Eclipse when Moon becomes dark because of absence of Sun [...]

I have two words for the crescent sighting prospects for Shawwal (Eid-ul-Fitr) 1432AH from Pakistan: very interesting! On 29th August 2011 (28th Ramazan 1432), the Moon sets before the Sun throughout Pakistan. If your western horizon is clear on 30th August 2011 (29th Ramazan 1432), you should be able to easily see the crescent Moon. Here are the various astronomical parameters for Karachi for that date (please ignore the typo - it is 30th August and not 3rd August): I'm really hoping for a clear western horizon on 30th August because the crescent Moon would be next to a beautiful minaret [...]

The second lunar eclipse of 1432AH and the first of 2011 will be the darkest eclipse in 22 years. If you have never seen the summer Milky Way at its prime, you now have two very strong excuses for travelling to a dark sky site to observe this total lunar eclipse and the galactic center high in the sky.   The summer Milky Way (unprocessed shot by Hanif Bhatti from Hingol, Balochistan) What the Moon normally does to the Milky Way (Shot by Zagham Islam from Baltistan, Pakistan) The eclipse occurs on 15th/16th June when the Moon is at the ascending node in southern Ophiuchus, [...]

Often during Astronomy related conversations I used to hear word equinox and then they used to say Fall equinox and the spring equinox. The word seems weird but it has the explanation in it. Equinox is derived from Latin word aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox the day and night are of almost equal lengths. Equinox is on September 22 and March 20, so who cares An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the plane of the Earth's equator passes the center of the Sun. At this time the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away [...]

You bet it is not! Unfortunately, almost every year many of our people are thrown into doubts about the Hijri date when they first see the lunar crescent and find it "too thick" and staying above the horizon for "too long", even though both of these factors do not have a fixed relationship with the date of the lunar calendar. This is because of many factors. Without getting technical, I'll try to explain two of the more important aspects which determine how thin the Moon of the first can be. The tilt of the crescent (or put another way, the direction of the [...]

From my childhood I was obsessed by Moon, the largest celestial object that could be seen in sky at night. The reason I was obsessed with it could be, it is in sky for most part of a month. I did not get any useful information and guidance to Astronomy until I found a book of Science in which there was some discussion on Stars, Sun, and the Planets including Moon. Later in that year, I found a book named ‘Stars and Planets’ when I was roaming around in book shops finding a book on Bonsai. I turned the pages randomly [...]