Venus is the most spectacular planet to watch this year. The first 5 months of the year, Venus will be the “Evening Star” and the brightest object in the western sky after sunset. Venus will be so brilliant that it will cast shadows! Venus will be at its best evening viewing in a decade. When Venus reaches inferior conjunction, passing between the sun and Earth on June 8, Venus will be visible as a black dot on the face of the sun. That’s the first time since 1882 that Venus will be seen transiting the sun. Venus will be the “Morning Star” in the predawn eastern sky for the last 6 months of the year. Jupiter is the second brightest planet this year and will be visible all night as it reaches opposition (opposite the sun in our sky) on March 3. Saturn is good for viewing after reaching opposition on the last day of 2003. The details of its rings are well defined with the southern hemisphere tilted toward Earth.

In January, a comet can be seen passing through Andromeda (the Chained Maiden), just to the left of the Great Square Pegasus located very high in the western sky. Comet C/2002 T7 can be seen with binoculars as a fuzzy ball moving left to right (or east to west) from the south or under side of Andromeda toward the left side of the Great Square.

The largest asteroid Ceres can be seen with binoculars moving through the constellation of Gemini (the Twins) in January. In the beginning of the month, the 560 mile wide asteroid can be spotted between the bright stars Castor and Pollux (the heads of the Gemini twins) in the eastern sky. Ceres moves toward the west, or to the right, and slightly northward throughout the month. By the end of the month, Ceres will be directly west, or to the right, of Castor. It will be visible throughout the spring as it moves westward and slightly northward through the sky.

A Blue Moon occurs on July 31. A Blue Moon is the second full moon occurring in one calendar month. July has the only full moon in 2004.

There is only one eclipse visible to Northwest Indiana in 2004. A total lunar eclipse will be visible on October 27. On May 4, a total lunar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. A partial solar eclipse on April 19 will be visible from Southern Africa and Antarctica. On October 13, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from Northwestern Asia, Hawaii, and western Alaska.

There are five meteor showers this year that occur under favorable conditions (not near full moons.) The spring has the first one on April 21, when the Lyrids will occur late at night. The only good summer meteor shower is on August 12, when the Perseids peak soon after sunset. The fall meteor showers occur about one month apart. On October 21, the Orionids are at their peak in the late night hours. On November 17 the Leonids reach their peak in the early morning. On December 13, the Geminids reach their peak and become visible about midnight.