Comet SWAN as captured by Pete Lawrence

May 5, 2020 at 9:44 am

It might prove tricky, but see if you can spot Comet C/2020 F8 Swan racing across the Eastern Skies

Comet C/2020 F8 Swan will be gracing the Eastern skies during May and into June 2020, although it might prove tricky to spot. Discovered in images taken by the SWAN camera aboard the Solar Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft on 25 March 2020, the comet reaches perihelion on 27 May.

At the start of May, it was estimated to be a fraction brighter than mag. +6, putting it within naked eye territory. By late May, preliminary estimates suggest it may brighten to around mag. +3. By 8th May, It's already brightened below +4 magnitude. 

Observing it will be a balancing act due to where the comet is located in the sky versus the onset of evening, morning and Twilight. 

As luck would have it, the comet is expected to reach its peak brightness between 20-22 May.

On the night of 29/30 May, comet C/2020 F8 Swan moves into Auriga approximately 4.5 degrees to the west of Capella (Alpha Aurigae). It continues east, curving south as it goes, to pass one degree south of Capella on the night of 2/3 June.

Visibility for this comet will be complicated by the part of the sky it is in and the proximity of its appearance to the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice (Sun is furthest North on top of the tropic of Capricorn) on 20 June.

On May 12th the comet will breeze some 83 million kilometers (52 million miles) from Earth and come to perihelion on May 27th at a distance of 64 million kilometers (40 million miles) from the Sun. During the second week of May SWAN will stand just a few degrees high in the eastern sky 90 minutes to 2 hours before sunrise for the central U.S. By May 21st its altitude increases to around 5° and subsequently declines at month's end.

Check the Eastern Skies around 4.30 - 5.10 in the morning and if the skies clear in Sri Lanka, you will be able to experience this magnificent comet. 

January 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

Addition to the Lunar Eclipse, this would be the only occasion in this decade where the moon will be furthest north. The next event where the moon would move further north will be in 2031. 

Keen observers in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa may see the Moon turn a shade darker during the maximum phase of this penumbral lunar eclipse. Most penumbral lunar eclipses cannot be easily distinguished from a usual Full Moon.

Regions seeing, at least, some parts of the eclipse: Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Much of North America, East in South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic.

Lunar eclipses can be visible from everywhere on the night side of the Earth, if the sky is clear. From some places the entire eclipse will be visible, while in other areas the Moon will rise or set during the eclipse.

Event	UTC Time	Time in Sri Lanka	Visible in Sri Lanka
Penumbral Eclipse begins	10 Jan, 17:07:44	10 Jan, 22:37:44	Yes
Maximum Eclipse	10 Jan, 19:10:02	11 Jan, 00:40:02	Yes
Penumbral Eclipse ends	10 Jan, 21:12:19	11 Jan, 02:42:19	Yes

* The Moon is above the horizon during this eclipse, so with good weather conditions in Sri Lanka, the entire eclipse is visible.

Eclipse calculations usually accurate to a few seconds.

The magnitude of the eclipse is -0.116.

The penumbral magnitude of the eclipse is 0.895.

The total duration of the eclipse is 4 hours, 5 minutes.

26 December 2019 Annular Solar Eclipse

As captured from  Bellanvila - Sri Lanka 

Live stream of the eclipse below..

The annular phase of this solar eclipse is visible from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia, weather permitting. In most of Asia, parts of North/East Africa, and North/West Australia, people can see a partial eclipse.

Video below will detail how it would be visible in different parts of the world. 

The eclipse starts at one location and ends at another. The times below are actual times (in UTC) when the eclipse occurs. 

Event	UTC Time	Time in Sri Lanka
First location to see the partial eclipse begin	26 Dec, 02:29:53	26 Dec, 07:59:53
First location to see the full eclipse begin	26 Dec, 03:34:33	26 Dec, 09:04:33
Maximum Eclipse	26 Dec, 05:17:46	26 Dec, 10:47:46
Last location to see the full eclipse end	26 Dec, 07:00:55	26 Dec, 12:30:55
Last location to see the partial eclipse end	26 Dec, 08:05:40	26 Dec, 13:35:40

For Sri Lankans, to experience the full effect of the eclipse, it's recommended to visit the northern part of Sri Lanka. Below video depicts the path of the shadow. 

It would be ideal to have the full experience as it would be more than a decade before Sri Lanka would experience a similar eclipse