Inhabitants of the Earth will be able to see the stars and the largest Sun

On New Year’s holidays, the inhabitants of the Earth will be able to see the maximum activity of the Quadrantida meteor shower, the largest Sun of the year and the New Year’s parade of planets. This was announced on December 27 by the head of the department of methodological support of the Moscow Planetarium, astronomer Lyudmila Koshman.

As the specialist clarified, the Quadrantid stream will reach its peak on the night of January 4 – up to 120 meteors per hour are expected.

“Conditions for observing meteors in 2022 are favorable [на всей территории России] A young moon would not hurt. <...> The best time for observations will be from midnight to dawn, when the radiant is as high as possible above the horizon, ”she told TASS.

Also, on January 4, the Earth will pass perihelion – the point of its orbit closest to the Sun and will be at the minimum distance from it, in connection with which the celestial body will seem huge.

“The disc of the celestial body will look 3% larger than at the beginning of July, when this distance (between the planets) is maximum,” the expert explained.

In addition, from the end of December until Christmas, the inhabitants of the Earth will be able to see the New Year’s parade of the planets, with the exception of Mars, which becomes visible in the morning, added Koshman.

On December 23, it was reported that a group of astronomers discovered at least 70 rogue planets in our galaxy, which is the largest find of such bodies.

For their research, they used data from ground-based and space telescopes over the past 20 years. In total, the found group may contain up to 170 planets. The inaccuracy in the number of objects is associated with the difficulties in determining the age of the region under study and the lack of accurate data on the mass of open objects.

The SMM edition of Izvestia MIC has prepared a unique special project in honor of the Year of Science 2021: Science and Technology. What is being invented in Russia ”. It tells about the most interesting, large, promising projects that can change the lives of people and society as a whole.