The top 10 celestial events of 2013 as seen from Southern Ontario.

1. Top 10 Celestial
Events 2013
Naked Eye from Mississauga
(... And aided eye!)

2. TOP 10 LIST
A Personal LIST
based on:
•historic cloud cover,
•visual interest, and
•Rarity

3. #10 - Geminids
• December 7-15
• Night of 13th morning 14th
• Jupiter / waxing gibbous Moon
• can expect 20/h in the city (40/H Caledon)

4. #9 - PLANET DANCE
• MAY 22-30
• Mercury, Venus, Jupiter
• 7-9 pm on the western HORIZON AFTER
SUNSET

5. #9 - PLANET DANCE

6. #8 - MOON-JUPITER
• Jan 21
• All night
• KEY:
7 pm to
midnight

7. #7 - COMET PANSTARRS
• March 5 (close to Earth)
• C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
• Oct 2012 predicts
may brighten to
apparent
magnitude -4
(VENUS BRIGHT)

8. #7 - March 5 westward

9. #6 - CRESCENT MOON
• August 7
• 7° from the sun
• 7 days from
the 7th month
• Maybe 7 minutes
after sunset?
• Competition to
see this event

10. #5 - PERSEIDS
• August 5-17
• Night of 11th, 12th morning 13th
• NO MOON
• can expect 30/h in the city (60/H Caledon)
• comet Swift-Tuttle
• 5am Zenith NEAR radiant point

11. #5 - PERSEIDS

12. #4 - Mercury
• Feb 2 to 23
• Evening Views (6 pm)
• Telescopes should
Reveal Phases
• 4.5” - 13.0”
in size

13. Events #10-#4
Short events of a night or two
with
Moon & planets
Meteor Showers
Comet
... Drum roll please

14. #3 - AURORA BOREALIS
• SUN ENTERS SUNSPOT MAXIMUM for
this 11 year cycle
• Although a LOWER maximum is expected
than in other years a significant amount of
flares should be expected
• The LATE summer atmosphere will be
higher and offer a Better chance at seeing

15. #3 - AURORA BOREALIS
• 3 minutes in 3.5 seconds (FERGUS
ONTARIO)
• Watch the university of Alaska forecast
• Plus space
weather for
solar
activity

16. #2 - Saturn
• At Opposition Apr 28
• Apr May Jun offers great summer viewing
• 19” VISUAL
diameter of
the planet
• 40” Diameter
INCLUDING
the rings

17. #1
... Drum still rolling

18. #1 - COMET ISON
• Sungrazing
• C/2012 S1 ISON
• discovered
21 Sep 2012
• Vitali Nevski
Artyom Novichonok
• Could be a chunk of the Great Comet of
1680

19. ISON Dates
• August in Binoculars
• 1st OCT pass 0.072 AU BY MARS
• Oct Nov Dec Jan naked Eye
• 28th Nov - nearest the sun
• 26th Dec - nearest The EARTH
• Jan 14th-15th could have a new meteor
shower on earth from the trail of this comet

20. ISON COMPARED TO OTHERS
’76 - WEST ’96 - Hyakutake
’97 - HALE-BOPP ’13 - ISON

21. 1680-ISON Comparison
GREAT COMET 1680
’13 - ISON

22. Comet Checklist
•Big enough to be seen at least 18
months from perihelion? √
•Is it a sungrazer?
√
•Will it be within 0.5 AU of the EARTH?
•DOES IT follow a predicted light curve? √
TBD

23. Comparison
Comet Magnitude Coma Tail Closest Approach
Hyakutake (‘96) 0th 2 degrees 35 degrees 0.1 AU
Hale-Bopp (‘97) 2nd 2 degrees 45 degrees 1.3 AU
Swift-Tuttle (‘92) 5th 15 minutes 7 degrees 0.1 AU
Halley (‘86) 2nd 2 degrees 40 degrees 0.4 AU
Kohoutek (‘73) 1st 1 degree 25 degrees 0.4 AU
Prediction
Comet Magnitude Coma Tail Closest Approach
ISON (‘13) -5th 3 degrees 80 degrees 0.4 AU

24. TOP 3
#3 - Aurora Borealis
•Several months of fun in the late summer and
early fall
#2 - Saturn
•Three months of bright displays with inclined rings
for best effect
#1 - COMET ISON
•Three to four months of naked eye observation in
fall and early winter

25. Calendar
January August
•Jupiter/MOOn •Crescent Moon
February •Perseids
•Mercury AUG + Sept & OCT
MARCH •Aurora Borealis
•Comet Panstarrs OCT + Nov + DEC
APR + MAY + JUN •COMET ISON
•SATURN December
MAY •GEMINIDS
•Planet Dance •VENUS

26. “Comets are like cats: they have
tails, and they do precisely what they
want.”
David H. Levy,
Comets: Creators and Destroyers

27. Useful Links
• NASA meteor shower flux estimator
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html
• Northern Lights Aurora forecast
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/NorthA
merica/
• Space Weather Information Monitor (SWIM)
http://www.spacew.com/swim/