These are the most prominent astronomical phenomena that can be seen in the sky during 2023

The earth makes a complete revolution around the sun every year.

During this space flight, several astronomical phenomena occur in our night sky, which make this trip fun and not boring.

Here are the most important of these astronomical phenomena that you can enjoy watching in the sky during the year 2023.

Planets shine in our night sky

Mercury and Venus revolve in two orbits closer to the sun than Earth, which makes them disappear in the star's glow most of the time.

Astronomy amateurs will have the opportunity to watch them during their apparent distance from the sun, when they are in the so-called maximum elongation.

For this year, Venus will be the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, and it will reach its maximum elongation on the first of next June, according to a report published on the Stacker website.

During this period, it will be brilliant after sunset, and in October it will appear bright in the east before sunrise.

As for Mercury, it will reach its maximum elongation several times during the year, and it will show a bright yellow point at dawn in late January and next May and September.

Also early April, August and December, and it can be seen at that time with binoculars after sunset.

As for the outer planets, the best observation periods will be when they are in the opposite direction from the sun, and the earth is between them.

In theory, this means the existence of this planet, the earth and the sun on almost one straight line.

Saturn will take this position in late August, Neptune in mid-September, and Jupiter in early November.

Saturn will be in a position opposite the sun, allowing it to be easily monitored (NASA)

associations

The year 2023 will witness a number of conjunctions between the planets, during which two planets will appear close to each other in the sky.

The first of these phenomena, you can see it in the second half of this month when (apparently) Venus meets Saturn at sunset, so that the distance between them reaches less than half a degree, less than the diameter of the moon.

And they will be joined on the evening of January 23 by a thin crescent moon, so that they will all be a wonderful scene, according to a report published on the Earthsky website.

Venus will be on a date on the first of next March, with Jupiter.

And you can follow this encounter between the brightest planets in the spring sky shortly after sunset to the west.

And next mid-July, if you look at the sky towards the west after sunset, you will find it full of fun.

There, Venus will appear as bright as usual, next to the brightest star of the constellation Leo, Regulus.

Far on the horizon, you'll find bright red Mars.

And if the sky is clear, you can also spot Mercury in the twilight, hugging the horizon near where the sun sets.

In this scene, the crescent moves up from one night to the next.

solar eclipse

The New Year will witness two solar eclipses that will not be visible from the Arab region.

The first of them will happen, according to the “Time and Date” website, on the night between April 19 and 20 next, and it will be in the hybrid category because it will appear entirely or annular, depending on the location from which it will be monitored on Earth.

The last time the Earth witnessed this type of eclipse was on April 8, 2005. The appearance of the eclipse changes with the movement of the moon's shadow across the Earth, but it will mostly be total and will only be annular at its beginning and at its end.

The central band of this eclipse begins in the Indian Ocean, where the eclipse is annular.

It becomes wholly before passing through northern Australia.

Then it ends in the Pacific Ocean, where it loops back again.

This hybrid eclipse will last 5 hours and 24 minutes in total, of which 3 hours and 19 minutes will be for its hybrid phase.

As for the second eclipse for this year, it will occur on October 14, and it will be annular.

This type of eclipse occurs when the apparent diameter of the moon is smaller than the diameter of the sun.

Which means that the observer will see the sun as a bright ring surrounding the moon, at the height of this phenomenon.

This eclipse will begin in the northern Pacific Ocean before crossing the United States and Mexico.

It then runs along Central America, continuing through Colombia and Brazil before ending in the Atlantic Ocean.

This annular eclipse will last 5 hours and 51 minutes, of which 3 hours and 38 minutes will be for its annular phase.

Lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the earth's shadow or penumbra.

This requires that the sun, earth and moon line up in this order.

The first lunar eclipse of 2023 will occur on May 5.

It is a semi-shadow eclipse, meaning that the moon will not enter the shadow area, but it will receive less light from the sun.

It is usually difficult for the observer to perceive the decrease in luminosity that is occurring.

The eclipse will be "visible" from the countries of the Levant, Central Asia, Oceania, the Indian Ocean and East Africa for a period of 4 hours and 17 minutes.

As for the second lunar eclipse, it will be partial on the evening of October 28, meaning that the moon's disk will partially enter the earth's shadow.

It can be seen from the entire Arab region, in addition to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, much of South America, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans.

The eclipse will last in all its stages for about 4 hours and 25 minutes.

The giant moon phenomenon will occur more than once this year (Flickr)

supermoon

As we know, the orbit of the moon around the Earth is not circular but rather elliptical, and when the earth satellite passes in its orbit at its closest point to the Earth, which is called the perihelion, its disk is larger than usual.

And if the moon happens to be in the phase of the full moon when it is at perigee or near it, the phenomenon of the giant moon occurs.

This phenomenon will occur on July 3, August 1, 31 of the same month, and finally September 29.

Since the giant moon phenomenon that will occur on August 31 is the second full moon in the same calendar month, this phenomenon is also called the blue moon phenomenon.

meteor shower

Like every year, astronomy enthusiasts will be on a date with a number of meteor showers during different periods of the year 2023. On the night of next April 22, the sky will witness showers of the constellation Harp caused by Comet Thatcher.

And you can see it from the northern hemisphere after midnight.

The Northern Hemisphere will also have the advantage of seeing Eta Aquarids, named after the star Eta in Aquarius.

It is known that these meteors are linked by scientists to the famous "Hubble" comet, and they are fast and leave behind, as a result, glowing light strands of debris that can last for several seconds.

On the evening of August 12, the sky will witness the most famous meteor shower, which is the Perseids.

You can see 50 to 100 bright, fast meteors every hour during the mid-summer peak.

Next November will witness two important meteor showers.

The first of these is the Taurus shower, which will peak during the night between November 4 and 5.

These showers are known for their white luster and brightness more than Venus.

As for the second, it will be on the evening of the 17th of the same month, which is the Leonides shower caused by dust left by the comet “Tempel-Tuttle”, which orbits the sun once every 33 years.