On May 15, the first of 2 total lunar eclipses of the year will occur. This eclipse is very long, and will last for about 3 hours. About 9:05 p.m., the moon will begin to enter into Earth’s shadow. At 10:14 p.m., it will reach totality that will last over 50 minutes. The moon will fully reappear at 12:18 a.m. On November 8 at 8:00 p.m., the 2nd total lunar eclipse will occur. Totality only lasts for 24 minutes, because the moon passes in the southern part of Earth’s shadow. The southern part of the moon will be brighter than the northern part. There are 2 solar eclipses this year. On May 30 at midnight, an annular solar eclipse will occur but will only be seen from Northern Scotland, Iceland, and Greenland. On November 23 at 6:00 p.m., a total solar eclipse will occur with the path of totality only visible from Antarctica. A partial eclipse will be seen from Australia and New Zealand.

When planets reach opposition (opposite the sun as seen from Earth), they are at their best to view due to their high reflectivity and visibility. They are visible all night too. Jupiter reaches opposition in February. In July, Mars will be at its closest, brightest, and biggest, (although it doesn’t actually reach opposition until August 28). Mars reaches perihelion (closest point to the sun) within a couple of days of opposition. It will be the largest it has ever appeared from Earth-bound telescopes, and won’t reach this size again until 2208. Saturn reaches opposition on December 31 and will be at its brightest of the last 30 years.

There are three meteor showers that have been rated excellent to view this year in relation to the phases of the moon. The Quadrantids on January 4 are good to view for a few hours before dawn. The Eta Aquarids on May 5, can be seen a few hours after midnight. The Orionids on October 22 are good to view in the early morning hours. The other meteor showers are not in favorable moon phases to view. The favorite summer meteor shower, the Perseids on August 13, will occur during a full moon phase making viewing very difficult.

The Calumet Astronomical Society (CAS) will be hosting their three FREE annual telescopic viewing events. Remember the schedule and themes are tentative. The spring event will be held on the weekend of May 30/31 at Dunes National Lakeshore. The tentative theme is solar eclipses. The summer event will be held on August 29/30 at Lemon Lake County Park. The summer theme will be “Mars Madness” due to the spectacular viewing opportunity Mars will be offering. The fall event will be held at Lemon Lake County Park on November 7/8 during the total lunar eclipse, which is the theme. For questions, contact the CAS at www.casonline.org, Dunes National Lakeshore, or Lemon Lake County Park.

NASA has 5 missions planned to go to the ITT (International Space Station) in 2003 that will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. All the dates are the earliest possible launches and tentative. The first trip is with the space shuttle Atlantis on March 1. The next shuttle launch is the Endeavour on May 23. On July 24, Atlantis will be ready for a second trip. On October 2, Endeavour will be ready for its second trip. The last trip in 2003 to the ITT is the space shuttle Columbia on November 13.

A San Diego, California company called TransOrbital Inc. has scheduled a commercial venture to the moon for October. It will be launched from the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan. If successful, it will be the first non-governmental object to touch down on the moon and an historical first.