Part of the Moon will appear darker as the full Moon passes through the faint outer edge (penumbra) of the Earth’s shadow. This is the second penumbral eclipse of the year, but will treat a different region of the globe to a similar show. Sky-watchers in the Americas will miss out on this one, but it will be visible throughout much of the rest of the world including eastern Europe, eastern Africa, Asia, and western Australia.
The Sun will beam down directly on the equator giving us just about equal amounts of day and night in most parts of the world. If you live south of the equator, this is your Spring Equinox.
See front page of NOVAC Site for changes to event. More information about Great Meadow including directions and parking visit the Great Meadow Site page.
The radiant point for the Draconid meteor shower almost coincides with the head of the constellation Draco the Dragon in the northern sky. That’s why the Draconids are best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. The Draconid shower is a real oddity, in that the radiant point stands highest in the sky as darkness falls. That means that, unlike many meteor showers, more Draconids are likely to fly in the evening hours than in the morning hours after midnight. This shower is usually a sleeper, producing only a handful of languid meteors per hour in most years. But watch out if the Dragon awakes! In rare instances, fiery Draco has been known to spew forth many hundreds of meteors in a single hour. In 2015, the waning crescent moon rises at late night and will not intrude on this year’s Draconid shower. Try watching at nightfall and early evening on October 7 and 8.