If you know any rare astronomy events, post them here. Make sure you include dates, specific times, locations, where to look, what to look for, and links.

 

Mine:

Catch Mercury While You Can

http://space.com/spacewatch/060217_night_sky.html

Location: Northern Hemisphere

When: The best time to see it is February 24, 2006. But it is visible until March 3rd.

Time: About 45 minutes after sunset.

Where to look: Just south of due west.

What to look for: A very bright "star" with a trace of a yellow-orange tinge.

 

Start posting some events!

The transit of Venus June 5-6, 2012. I saw the transit in 2004; there had not been one since the pair in 1882 and 1874, and will not be another until 2117

 

Full transit visible in the west Pacific, east Australia and east Asia; partial transit (in progress at sunset or sunrise) in the Middle East, parts of Europe and North America. Not visible in west Africa or most of South America.

 

See the link for details.

When: Last days of Feb. and first week of march 2006. Best time to see it is March 5th.

Time: About 90 minutes before sunrise.

Where to look: Very low to the horizon, due east.

Location: Northern Hemisphere

What to look for: A circular patch of light with a bluish-white hue and an almost star-like center.

What you can see it with: Telescope, binoculars, naked eye (although it will be very dim).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060224/sc_space/seeitnownewcometbrightensrapidly;_ylt=AvgQR00Muam5D3Va1uNAFqkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Same as herpguy from an other source...

 

MORNING COMET: A new comet is emerging in the morning sky: Comet Pojmanski has been brightening since its discovery in January and can now be found just east of Venus before sunrise: sky map. It looks like a slightly fuzzy blue star of magnitude 5; binoculars reveal a small tail. A good morning to look is Monday, Feb. 27th, when the comet glides by the double star Algedi.

 

http://spaceweather.com/

Solar eclips at march 29 2006

 

Visible in Asia, Europe, Africa

Georgia, Turkey, Nigeria and others will have a total eclips

Northwest Europe will have about 1/3 around noon GMT

 

Eclips info

 

Airmid.

ASTEROID FLYBY: On Monday, March 6th, asteroid 2000 PN9 will fly past Earth. There's no danger of a collision with the mile-wide space rock, but it will be close enough (2 million miles) and bright enough (12th magnitude) for amateur astronomers to photograph using big backyard telescopes and CCD cameras: ephemeris.

http://spaceweather.com/

LUNAR ECLIPSE: When the full moon rises on Tuesday evening, March 14th, you might notice something odd--a pale shadow darkening the moon's southern hemisphere. That is the shadow of Earth, and if you can see it, you've spotted a penumbral lunar eclipse.

 

http://spaceweather.com/

http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_14mar06.html

Mini-Comets Approaching Earth 03.24.2006

 

A cometary "string-of-pearls" will fly past Earth in May 2006 giving astronomers a fantastic view of a dying comet.

 

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm