Smack dab on the new moon, this promises to be nice dark viewing. These shooting stars are composed of the remnants of Comet Halley. Meteors—up to 30 per hour in the Northern Hemisphere and 60 per hour in the Southern—will appear to radiate from Aquarius.
Head over to the Astronomy Day page for more information.
A superstar event for 2016: Elusive Mercury, one of the most difficult planets to view, will be out in broad daylight—literally! Look through a telescope equipped with a suitable solar filter and you’ll be able to view tiny Mercury transit across the surface of the Sun. This rare celestial event will be visible throughout much of the world, but observers along the eastern coasts of the Americas will get the best view.
Today marks when Mars will be nearest to Earth in 2016. Try viewing Mars in a large telescope to see if you can spot its polar ice caps or any of the darker regions on the rusty-red surface…
see http://cantonbecker.com/retrograde for details…
Saturn rules the summer sky, but on this night, the ringed planet truly takes center stage. When it reaches opposition, Saturn will be bright and fully illuminated by the Sun. You may even notice that its rings look brighter than usual thanks to a phenomenon known as the Seeliger Effect. Take it all in! Saturn’s rings will be visible in even small aperture telescopes.