MAJOR ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS OF THE YEAR 2001
MAY (The Fifth Month).......................
Venus achieves its greatest brilliancy as a morning star on the 4th, a dazzling low-elevation beacon in the eastern sky before dawn. The cloudy inner planet meets the crescent Moon on the 19th. Saturn vanishes into solar glare. Jupiter falls closer to the western horizon each evening at dusk and meets Mercury on the 15th and 16th. Mercury is especially bright during the first half of the month and now achieves its highest-in-the-sky evening appearance of the year. It is near the young crescent Moon on the 24th. Mars brightens dramatically to become an eye-catching "star" rising in the southeast by 11:00 p.m. EDT and remaining in the south throughout the night. Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 7th day, 9th hour, 52nd minute
Last Quarter: 15th day, 6th hour, 11th minute
New Moon: 22nd day, 22nd hour, 46th minute
First Quarter: 29th day, 18th hour, 9th minute
JUNE (The Sixth Month)......................
Jupiter is lost behind the Sun throughout June, while Saturn remains low and obscure in morning twilight. The month belongs to Mars and Venus, occupying opposite sides of the heavens. Venus, the dazzling morning star, achieves maximum Sun-separation on the 8th but is not high. Mars is brilliant as it sits close to the bright waning Moon on the 6th, reaches opposition with the Sun on the 13th, and achieves its closest approach to Earth since 1988 on the 21st. The summer solstice occurs on the 21st, at 3:38 a.m. EDT. With the Sun now at its annual high point, Mars's opposition means that it lurks in the zodiac's lowest zone. Thick horizon air will make the brilliant planet look red. Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 5th day, 21st hour, 39th minute
Last Quarter: 13th day, 23rd hour, 28th minute
New Moon: 21st day, 7th hour, 58th minute
First Quarter: 27th day, 23rd hour, 19th minute
JULY (The Seventh Month).....................
Earth is at aphelion (farthest from the Sun) on the 4th. Although brilliant Mars is visible all night in the southerly constellation Ophiuchus, Venus and Mercury, joined by Saturn and Jupiter, have shifted entirely to the eastern predawn sky. The ringed world stubbornly remains in Taurus, but Jupiter moves into Gemini, its new home for the rest of the year. Look for beautiful gatherings in the middle of morning twilight: Dazzling Venus meets dimmer Saturn and the orange star Aldebaran from the 11th to the 15th, with the crescent Moon joining them on the 17th; lower in the east during this same five-day period, Jupiter and Mercury hover side by side, joined by the Moon on the 19th. Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 5th day, 11th hour, 4th minute
Last Quarter: 13th day, 14th hour, 45th minute
New Moon: 20th day, 15th hour, 44th minute
First Quarter: 27th day, 6th hour, 8th minute
AUGUST (The Eighth Month)....................
Look for increasing numbers of "shooting stars" from the 6th through the 12th, even though the Perseid meteors of the 11th to the 13th could be ruined by a waning gibbous Moon. Meanwhile, eye-catching conjunctions spangle the predawn heavens. Venus and Jupiter, the night's two brightest "stars," pass just a degree apart on the 5th and 6th. The Moon skims past Saturn on the 14th, Jupiter on the 15th, and Venus on the 16th. Uranus, in Capricornus, is at opposition on the 15th. At magnitude 6.0, the giant green world is faintly visible to the naked eye under moonless conditions, which prevail around the 18th. Mars, although fading from its June glory, remains bright in the south. Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 4th day, 1st hour, 56th minute
Last Quarter: 12th day, 3rd hour, 53rd minute
New Moon: 18th day, 22nd hour, 55th minute
First Quarter: 25th day, 15th hour, 55th minute
SEPTEMBER (The Ninth Month)...................
Striking late-summer conjunctions continue, as the Moon's tilted path keeps carrying it within a single degree of a series of planets. It closely meets Saturn (now rising before midnight) on the 10th, skims past Jupiter on the 12th, and passes 3 degrees north of Venus on the 15th. Venus, losing some of its earlier luster, stands just half a degree from Leo's blue star, Regulus, on the 20th. Autumn begins with the equinox on the 22nd, at 7:04 p.m. EDT, marking the Sun's transit of Earth's equator. Mars, crossing back into Sagittarius, keeps fading as Earth pulls ahead, leaving the red planet behind in the dust (or, more accurately, directly in front of the dusty center of our galaxy). Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 2nd day, 17th hour, 43rd minute
Last Quarter: 10th day, 14th hour, 59th minute
New Moon: 17th day, 6th hour, 27th minute
First Quarter: 24th day, 5th hour, 31st minute
OCTOBER (The Tenth Month)....................
Venus and Mercury, low in the east in predawn twilight, are on display in an unusually long-lasting meeting from October 28 to November 8. Mars, well up at dusk, keeps fading as it crosses into Capricornus in late October. Jupiter and Saturn both rise before midnight; Jupiter, now in Gemini, is higher in our sky than it has been since 1990. This month, the Milky Way is at its best at nightfall during the relatively moonless period from the 9th to the 17th. The galaxy's center is marked by a glow in Sagittarius just to the right of where Mars presently hovers. The mediocre Orionid meteors peak on the 22nd after the crescent Moon sets. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2:00 a.m. on the 28th. Moon phase times are based on Eastern Standard Time.
Full Moon: 2nd day, 9th hour, 49th minute
Last Quarter: 10th day, 0 hour, 20th minute
New Moon: 16th day, 15th hour, 23rd minute
First Quarter: 23rd day, 22nd hour, 58th minute
NOVEMBER (The Eleventh Month).................
The Moon passes close to Jupiter on the 6th. Mercury displays its best morning-star appearance of the year as it hovers next to Venus during the first week of November. Saturn now rises at nightfall, and much brighter Jupiter rises by 10:00 p.m. EST, dominating the heavens for the remainder of the night. The Leonid meteors will keep o
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