Astronomical agenda for 2016

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Disc.Proxima b
25 August

2016,
one second more

Gaia 1st Release 14 September

Juno in Jupiter,
4 July

Mercuri Transit
9 May

Detec. Grav. Waves
11 February

HISTORICAL ANIVERSARIES

TABLES: EARTH-SUN

TABLES: MOON

TABLES: PLANETS

ECLIPSES

METEOR SHOWERS

LINKS

1 Remarkable events

	Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star, 25/08/2016 Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and is the closest exoplanet to us — and it may also be the closest possible abode for life outside the Solar System.

Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star, 25/08/2016
Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and is the closest exoplanet to us — and it may also be the closest possible abode for life outside the Solar System.

	One second more in 2016, 6/07/2016, The International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS), announced that on 31 December 2016 will add a second to our clock time (UTC) to adjust it with the Solar Time (UT). This Time difference corresponds to the variability of the terrestrial rotation. Monograph about Time mesurement (catalan)

One second more in 2016

, 6/07/2016,
The International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service (IERS)

, announced that on 31 December 2016 will add a second to our clock time (UTC) to adjust it with the Solar Time (UT). This Time difference corresponds to the variability of the terrestrial rotation.
Monograph about Time mesurement (catalan)

	Juno in orbit around Jupiter, 05/07/2016 After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 p.m. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 4. Juno's special web page

Juno in orbit around Jupiter, 05/07/2016
After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 p.m. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 4.
Juno's special web page

	Gaia data release set for 14 September, 04/07/2016 ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia, launched on 19 December 2013, and in routine science operations since 25 July 2014, will release the first mission data on 14 September 2016.
	TransitMercuri090516 On 9th May a transit of Mercury will be visible from Catalonia. The transit will begin at midday and will end with the sunset.Transits of Mercury cannot be seen with the naked eye. You need a telescope for a good observation.

	LIGO Detected Gravitational Waves from Black Holes, 12 February 2016 On September 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (09:51 UTC), the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA both measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime – gravitational waves – arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe.

LIGO Detected Gravitational Waves from Black Holes

, 12 February 2016
On September 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (09:51 UTC), the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA both measured ripples in the fabric of spacetime – gravitational waves – arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe.

2 Historical Anniversaries

1966, Luna 9
February 1966, The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon

1966, Luna 10
March1966: The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon

1966, Surveyor 1
June 1966: Surveyor program

: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S.spacecraft to soft-land on another world

1966, Lunar Orbiter 1
August 1966: Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon, is launched

1966, Lunar Orbiter 2
November 1966: Lunar Orbiter 2 is launched

1966, Venera 3
March 1966, Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface

1976, Viking 1, Viking 2
July 1976, The Viking 1 lander touched down on the surface of Mars
September 1976, The Viking 2 lander touched down on the surface of Mars

Giotto approaching Comet Halley node full image 2.jpg

1986, Giotto i Halley
March 1986: Giotto

: ESA’s Giotto spacecraft flew to within a mere 596 km of Comet Halley, revealing for the first time how a cometary nucleus looks up close.

Tables

3 Earth-Sun

Changes of season

	Date	Exact hour
Spring	20 March	04 h 30 m UT
Summer	20 June	22 h 34 m UT
Autumm	22 September	14 h 21 m UT
Winter	21 December	10 h 44 m UT

Sunrise and sunset hours for any place (Calculation tool in javascript).

Earth's orbit

	Date	Distance to the Sun
Perihelion (minimum distance)	2 January	147.095.995 km
Afhelion (maximum distance)	4 July	152.093.527 km

4 Moon

Lunar phases ( UT ):

New Moon	Crescent Moon	Full Moon	Waning Moon
			02/01/2016
10/01/2016	16/01/2016	24/01/2016	01/02/2016
08/02/2016	15/02/2016	22/02/2016	01/03/2016
09/03/2016	15/03/2016	23/03/2016	31/03/2016
07/04/2016	14/04/2016	22/04/2016	30/04/2016
06/05/2016	13/05/2016	21/05/2016	29/05/2016
05/06/2016	12/06/2016	20/06/2016	27/06/2016
04/07/2016	12/07/2015	19/07/2015	26/07/2015
02/08/2016	10/08/2016	18/08/2016	25/08/2016
01/09/2016	09/09/2016	16/09/2016	23/09/2016
01/10/2016	09/10/2016	16/10/2016	22/10/2016
30/10/2016	07/11/2016	14/11/2016	21/11/2016
29/11/2016	07/12/2016	14/12/2016	21/12/2016
29/12/2016

Moon's orbit

Perigee (minimum distance)			Apogee (maximum distance)
					02 January
15 January	11 February	10 March	30 January	27 February	25 March
07 April	06 May	03 June	21 April	18 May	15 June
01 Julyl	27 Julyl	22 August	13 Julyl	10 August	06 September
18 September	17 October	14 November	04 October	31 October	27 November
12 December			25 December

4 Information about the planets ( UT ):

Mercury

Transit of Mercury, 9th May 2016

Day	Event

07 February	01 h	Max.west elongation

18 April	14 h	Max.east elongation

05 June	09 h	Max.west elongation

16 August	21 h	Max.east elongation

28 September	19 h	Max.west elongation

11 December	04 h	Max.east elongation

Venus

Day	Hour	Event
-	-	-
-	-	-

Mars

Day	Hour	Event
22 May	11 h	Oposition

Jupiter

Day	Hour	Event
08 March	10 h	Oposition
26 September	06 h	Conjunction

Saturn

Day	Hour	Event
3 June	06 h	Oposition
10 December	11 h	Conjunction

Uranus

Day	Hour	Event
09 April	21 h	Conjunction
15 October	10 h	Oposition

Neptune

Day	Hour	Event
28 February	15 h	Conjunction
02 September	15 h	Oposition

5 Eclipses

Solar eclipses

Type	Day	Hour of the maximum	Visibility
Total	09 March	1h 57m UT	Visible from Asia, Australia, Pacific. Total en: Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Pacific
Annular	1 September	09h 06m UT	Visible from Africa, Oceano Indic. Annular: Atlantic, c Africa, Madagascar, Índian Ocean

Lunar eclipses

Type	Day	Hour of the maximum	Visibility
Penumbral	23 March	11h 47m UT	Asia, Australia, Pacific, West America
Penumbral	16 September	18h 55m UT	Europa, Africa, Asia, Australia, West Pacific

6 Meteor Showers

Name	Days	Maximum aprox	Constelation around the radiant	Meteors per hour (aprox)
Quadrantids	1-5 January	3 January	Bootes	120
Lyrid	15-28 April	22 April	Lyra	15
Eta-Aquarid	19 April - 28 May	6 May	Aquarius	60
Arietid	22 May-2 July	7 June	Aries	54
Delta Aquarid	12 july-19 August	30 July	Aquarius	20
Perseids	17 July - 24 August	12 August	Perseus	90
Orionids	2October-7 November	21 October	Orion	20
Leonids	14 - 21 November	17 November	Leo	variable
Geminids	7 17 December	13-14 December	Gemini	120

Astronomical agenda for 2016

1

Remarkable events

2

Historical Anniversaries