The top celestial event of 2013 is predicted to be Comet ISON, which could become bright enough to see with the naked eye from October through January. Other notable events include the Perseids meteor shower in August, Saturn at its closest approach and best viewing from April through June, and increased chances of observing the aurora borealis from late summer through early fall due to higher solar activity.

1. Top 10 Celestial
Events 2013
Naked Eye from Mississauga
(... And aided eye!)

2. TOP 10 LIST
A Personal LIST
based on:
•historic cloud cover,
•visual interest, and
•Rarity

3. #10 - Geminids
• December 7-15
• Night of 13th morning 14th
• Jupiter / waxing gibbous Moon
• can expect 20/h in the city (40/H Caledon)

4. #9 - PLANET DANCE
• MAY 22-30
• Mercury, Venus, Jupiter
• 7-9 pm on the western HORIZON AFTER
SUNSET

5. #9 - PLANET DANCE

6. #8 - MOON-JUPITER
• Jan 21
• All night
• KEY:
7 pm to
midnight

7. #7 - COMET PANSTARRS
• March 5 (close to Earth)
• C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
• Oct 2012 predicts
may brighten to
apparent
magnitude -4
(VENUS BRIGHT)

8. #7 - March 5 westward

9. #6 - CRESCENT MOON
• August 7
• 7° from the sun
• 7 days from
the 7th month
• Maybe 7 minutes
after sunset?
• Competition to
see this event

10. #5 - PERSEIDS
• August 5-17
• Night of 11th, 12th morning 13th
• NO MOON
• can expect 30/h in the city (60/H Caledon)
• comet Swift-Tuttle
• 5am Zenith NEAR radiant point

11. #5 - PERSEIDS

12. #4 - Mercury
• Feb 2 to 23
• Evening Views (6 pm)
• Telescopes should
Reveal Phases
• 4.5” - 13.0”
in size

13. Events #10-#4
Short events of a night or two
with
Moon & planets
Meteor Showers
Comet
... Drum roll please

14. #3 - AURORA BOREALIS
• SUN ENTERS SUNSPOT MAXIMUM for
this 11 year cycle
• Although a LOWER maximum is expected
than in other years a significant amount of
flares should be expected
• The LATE summer atmosphere will be
higher and offer a Better chance at seeing

15. #3 - AURORA BOREALIS
• 3 minutes in 3.5 seconds (FERGUS
ONTARIO)
• Watch the university of Alaska forecast
• Plus space
weather for
solar
activity

16. #2 - Saturn
• At Opposition Apr 28
• Apr May Jun offers great summer viewing
• 19” VISUAL
diameter of
the planet
• 40” Diameter
INCLUDING
the rings

17. #1
... Drum still rolling

18. #1 - COMET ISON
• Sungrazing
• C/2012 S1 ISON
• discovered
21 Sep 2012
• Vitali Nevski
Artyom Novichonok
• Could be a chunk of the Great Comet of
1680

19. ISON Dates
• August in Binoculars
• 1st OCT pass 0.072 AU BY MARS
• Oct Nov Dec Jan naked Eye
• 28th Nov - nearest the sun
• 26th Dec - nearest The EARTH
• Jan 14th-15th could have a new meteor
shower on earth from the trail of this comet

20. ISON COMPARED TO OTHERS
’76 - WEST ’96 - Hyakutake
’97 - HALE-BOPP ’13 - ISON

21. 1680-ISON Comparison
GREAT COMET 1680
’13 - ISON

22. Comet Checklist
•Big enough to be seen at least 18
months from perihelion? √
•Is it a sungrazer?
√
•Will it be within 0.5 AU of the EARTH?
•DOES IT follow a predicted light curve? √
TBD

23. Comparison
Comet Magnitude Coma Tail Closest Approach
Hyakutake (‘96) 0th 2 degrees 35 degrees 0.1 AU
Hale-Bopp (‘97) 2nd 2 degrees 45 degrees 1.3 AU
Swift-Tuttle (‘92) 5th 15 minutes 7 degrees 0.1 AU
Halley (‘86) 2nd 2 degrees 40 degrees 0.4 AU
Kohoutek (‘73) 1st 1 degree 25 degrees 0.4 AU
Prediction
Comet Magnitude Coma Tail Closest Approach
ISON (‘13) -5th 3 degrees 80 degrees 0.4 AU

24. TOP 3
#3 - Aurora Borealis
•Several months of fun in the late summer and
early fall
#2 - Saturn
•Three months of bright displays with inclined rings
for best effect
#1 - COMET ISON
•Three to four months of naked eye observation in
fall and early winter

25. Calendar
January August
•Jupiter/MOOn •Crescent Moon
February •Perseids
•Mercury AUG + Sept & OCT
MARCH •Aurora Borealis
•Comet Panstarrs OCT + Nov + DEC
APR + MAY + JUN •COMET ISON
•SATURN December
MAY •GEMINIDS
•Planet Dance •VENUS

26. “Comets are like cats: they have
tails, and they do precisely what they
want.”
David H. Levy,
Comets: Creators and Destroyers

27. Useful Links
• NASA meteor shower flux estimator
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html
• Northern Lights Aurora forecast
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/NorthA
merica/
• Space Weather Information Monitor (SWIM)
http://www.spacew.com/swim/