Moon missions, meteors, a solar eclipse and more: Reasons to keep your eyes on the skies in 2024  | Breaking:

This year, the outdoor space will be a busy place.

We have the launch of the Europa Clipper, which will orbit one of Jupiter’s enigmatic moons and investigate whether it could harbor conditions suitable for life; we could cheer for the first Canadian to orbit the moon; and we will have a total solar eclipse that will be visible throughout eastern Canada.

These are just a few exciting events to look forward to in 2024.

meteor showers

As always, the year begins with the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, which is quite impressive, although short-lived.

At its peak, and under ideal conditions, the shower can produce more than 100 or more meteors per hour in a dark-sky setting.

Although the rain extends from December 27 to January 10, the peak occurs on the night of January 3.

It only lasts 12 hours and is expected to have some celestial competition, according to Peter Brown, Canada Research Chair in Meteor Astronomy and professor at Western University in London, Ont.

“The Quadrantids have a peak that is favorable for North America [around 4 a.m. ET]but the last quarter moon will interfere,” Brown said in an email. “However, it is such a strong and strong shower that it is worth checking in 2024, albeit with modest expectations given the poor lunar conditions.”

An added bonus is that Quadrantids tend to produce bright fireballs, increasing your chances of seeing something spectacular.

The next chance to see an equally impressive meteor shower won’t come until August, when the perseids arrive.

This rain is often described as the best of the year, and rightly so. It’s summer, night skies tend to be clear and the weather is warmer, making it a comfortable night for stargazing.

“The Perseids have better lunar conditions, and several ancient traces can be found this year… so the night of August 11-12 could be particularly interesting to follow this year,” Brown said. “However, the rates will not be very high, perhaps a few tens of percent above normal levels if these filaments are present at that time.”

It is usually a reliable shower, capable under ideal conditions of producing 100 meteors per hour at its peak, which falls on the night of August 11. And the good news about this year’s rain is that there will be no moon to interfere with it. capturing some of the faintest meteors.

Finally, there is the Geminid meteor shower.

This event can produce about 150 meteors per hour. While the rain extends from December 4 to 17, the peak occurs on the night of December 13.

While this rain is as reliable or more reliable than the Perseids, the downside is that winter nights can be cold and cloudy. However, the meteors that fly across the sky can be very bright and sometimes leave long tails.

But wait, there’s more…potentially.

“Beyond these three, the other shower to look at [that] may show unusual activity next year is the Eta Aquarids“said Brown. This spring rain will be best seen in early May.

“While not normally easy to see from Canada, the new moon on May 8, and the expectation of higher rates and bright meteors for a few nights around the maximum, would make it worth checking in the early morning hours of the 4th. to May 6.,” he said.

solar eclipse

This is the story of the year when it comes to astronomical events.

On April 8, a Total solar eclipse It will spread across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico, then into the United States starting in Texas, before continuing east to Canada.

“A total solar eclipse is the most impressive and sublime astronomical event visible to the naked eye,” said Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astronomer and the agency’s leading eclipse expert. “It’s something everyone should see at least once in their life.”

In Ontario, Toronto and Ottawa they will only reach 99.9 and 99.8 percent of totality, respectively. However, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Kingston will experience its full extent.

Espenak also noted that the first place to experience totality will be Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.

Sherbrooke, Que., Fredericton and Summerside, P.E.I., will be some of the other cities experiencing full totality.

“The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 is the last chance for Canadians to see it until August 23, 2044, 20 years from now,” Espenak added.

The whole thing will be quite a spectacle. Not only will viewers be able to see the sun’s corona, but Jupiter and Venus will suddenly appear in the darkened sky.

And, as a bonus, there will probably be a comet… 12p/Pons-Brooks — in the sky near Jupiter.

Astronomical organizations and universities located in the eclipse path will likely host events open to the public. It’s also a good idea to get safe, verified eclipse glasses, which can be found at science and astronomy stores or at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Missions to moons

These are moons in 2024.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to send a mission to the two moons of Mars: Phobos and Deimos.

There has never been a successful mission to these small moons, which are believed to be captured asteroids.

JAXA’s mission, Exploration of the Martian moonswill study these moons to determine if they were really asteroids or fragments that came together after something hit Mars, like our moon is believed to have formed.

It will also collect a sample from Phobos and return it to Earth in 2029.

There is also an exciting mission planned to Europa, one of the largest of Jupiter’s 95 known moons.

Europa is of particular interest to astrobiologists. There is evidence that beneath its icy crust lies a vast liquid, salty ocean with the potential to host life.

from NASA Europe Clipper It is scheduled to lift off in October 2024 and arrive in the Jovian system in 2030. Once there, it will orbit Europa 50 times, searching for signs that it has the key ingredients to support life: water, essential chemicals and energy.

China is expected to launch its Chang’e 6 The sample will return to the Moon sometime in 2024.

This will be its second sample return mission following the success of Chang’e 5 in 2020. This time, the mission aims to collect samples from the far side of the Moon.

The mission is expected to last 53 days.

The other big news of the year is the launch of Artemis II to the moon.

This mission follows the first launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket with its Orion capsule, Artemis I. That 25.5-day uncrewed mission orbited the moon in a test of its systems.

But Artemis II will have four astronauts on board, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen.

Hansen will be a mission specialist working alongside three NASA astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch. This will be the longest distance a Canadian astronaut has ever traveled in space.

The four will conduct a 10-day flight test that will orbit the moon.

The launch of the mission is scheduled for November, although it could be postponed until 2025.

Starship and a return to asteroids

If you’ve been keeping an eye on space missions, you’ll remember NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2021. On this mission, a spacecraft crashed into a small asteroid called Dimorphos, which is part of a binary asteroid ( two asteroids) which included a larger one called Didymos.

Why crash something into an asteroid? It was to see if a spacecraft is capable of pushing an asteroid on a collision course with Earth out of its orbit. AND it was a success.

As part of its follow-up, the European Space Agency will launch its hera mission to the asteroid pair in October, where it will conduct a post-impact study of Dimorphos. It will arrive in 2026.

And finally, you can count on more SpaceX flights of its massive Starship. The 120-meter-tall spacecraft is a key part of founder Elon Musk’s goal of landing humans on Mars.

But most importantly, it is part of NASA’s Artemis III mission, in which astronauts will set foot on the moon again.