March and April’s Astronomical Events
It may have felt like an abnormally long month, but all of our days off have been great for stargazing and appreciating all the beautiful events in the sky. In addition to planet sightings and special stars, we experienced a great solar storm, the strongest one since 2017. And looking forward to April, we are in for a beautiful meteor shower and the event that everyone’s been waiting for… the total solar eclipse!! Put these dates in your calendar so you do not miss these amazing astronomical events!
From March 20 and 28, Mercury was increasingly more visible in the night sky as it reached its greatest elongation from the sun on the 24. The ‘Swift Planet’ lit up a part of our evening sky, making for gorgeous sights at sunset. As well, stargazers were lucky enough to see Mercury set after the sun, briefly illuminating the night sky in a spectacular way.
Within this Mercury viewing period, on the night of March 22, we experienced the strongest solar storm in 6 years! This solar storm was caused by the sun erupting with a massive amount of electromagnetic radiation (solar flare). This resulted in a mass of hot plasma coming towards Earth in a coronal mass ejection (CME). This overwhelming electromagnetic radiation was expected to strengthen the northern lights and make them visible further south, but unfortunately, this was not the case as the radiation reached us the following day and therefore had no impact on the night sky.
Now looking forward to April, the Lyrid meteor shower will be visible between the 22nd and the 23 of the month. These meteors are known to leave trails of stardust behind them that make the sky twinkle. However, the shower peaks on the night of a full moon, so try to find a dark place where the sky is relatively clear for optimal viewing.
Finally, as we all know, there will be a partial solar eclipse from Toronto on Monday, April 8 around 3:30 pm. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, which creates a moon with a solar halo around it. While this is a very interesting and rare event, it can also be extremely harmful to your eyes. Looking straight up at the sun is dangerous to begin with, but the eclipse poses an extra risk since people are more inclined to stare at it for longer, essentially burning their eyes. For these reasons, we have been given a half day from school and we hope you all get to see the event safely, through special eclipse glasses only.
