KOCHAB  Kids Observing Celestial Heavens And Beyond
2008 Preview Night Sky Highlights
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist


May 10 — Occultation of the Beehive star
cluster. A waxing crescent moon, 38 percent
illuminated, will pass in front of the famous
Beehive Cluster this evening for North
Americans, making for a pretty sight in
binoculars and low-power telescopes.
Members of the cluster will disappear behind
the moon's dark edge and will reappear about
an hour later behind the bright edge.

May 21-22 — Jupiter without satellites! Anyone
who points a small telescope toward the planet
Jupiter will nearly always see some or all of the
four famous Galilean satellites. Usually at least
two or three of these moons are immediately
evident; sometimes all four. It is very rare when
only one moon is in view and rarer still when
no moons at all are visible. On this night, for
parts of the northeast U.S. and eastern
Canada, Jupiter will appear moonless for about
20 minutes.

June 30 — Occultation of the Pleiades star
cluster. This occultation is already in progress
for the northeastern U.S. as a skinny sliver of a
waning crescent moon rises in the pre-dawn
sky. Earthshine should also be present,
imparting a "3-D effect" in binoculars and small
telescopes. The best views will come as the
brighter stars of this cluster reappear along the
dark lunar limb.

August 1 — Total eclipse of the sun. Siberia
anyone? From Novosibirsk you'll see the late-
afternoon sun completely blotted out for 2.3
minutes. Totality will also be visible from
Canada's Northwest Passage, western
Mongolia, and the western end of the Great
Wall of China.

August 11-12 — Perseid meteor shower. At
first glance this doesn't look like a favorable
year to view this famous meteor display, since
the moon will be in a bright waxing gibbous
phase on the peak viewing night. Fortunately,
the moon will set at around 1:45 a.m. local
daylight time, leaving the rest of the night dark
for meteor watchers.

August 16 — Partial eclipse of the moon.
Europe, Africa and Asia will be in the best
position to watch about four-fifths of moon
become immersed in the Earth's dark umbral
shadow.

September 19 — Another Pleiades occultation.
A waning gibbous moon will already be within
the Pleiades as it rises over the Eastern U.S.
and Canada during the mid-evening hours.
The reappearance of stars such as Alcyone
and Taygeta should be well-seen along the
moon's dark limb.

December 1 — Venus/Jupiter conjunction, Part
2. This will be the second pairing-off of the two
brightest planets in 2008, this time in the
evening sky soon after sundown. And as a
bonus, the crescent moon will join them
forming a striking triangle and likely making
even those who normally don't look up at the
sky take notice.


http://www.space.com/spacewatch/080111-ns-2008-events.html
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's
Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York
Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera
meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.