Due to the inclination of the ecliptic to the horizon, it is during the equinox that the zodiacal light deviates the most from the horizon and is therefore best seen in the evening – similar conditions are then offered once again in the September sky before dawn. In addition, at the end of March to the beginning of April, the cone carries in a really dark sky to the Pleiades star cluster, in the angular vicinity of which the planet Mars will be located at the beginning of March, creating a remarkable composition with the faint arc of the Winter Milky Way. Every year, many photographers in the northern hemisphere try for it, with some beautiful terrestrial landscape in the foreground.
“To see the zodiacal light, you need a really dark sky away from sources of light pollution. In the Czech Republic, we recommend going somewhere to the mountains, ideally to areas known for less light pollution, so-called dark sky parks. In addition to them, a nice sky is offered in southern Bohemia or in the Vysočina region, “recommends astrophotographer Petr Horálek.
May offers glowing dust from Halley’s Comet
Twice a year, the Earth passes through a stream of ice-dust meteoroids left behind by Halley’s Comet as it orbits the Sun. The meteor shower of Eta-Aquarida is caused by grains from this periodic comet by astronomers called 1P / Halley.
It will be seen at night from the fifth to the sixth of May 2021, when the swarm will peak early in the morning around five o’clock in the morning and the Moon will be in phase only five days before the new one. Meteors are relatively fast and fly at a considerable frequency, but unfortunately rather over observers near the equator. “In our country, the constellation Aquarius, in which the radiant swarm lies, rises only low above the horizon in the second half of the night, so we can see everything from about ten meteors per hour. Even so, it’s a nice feeling that the vanishing ice-dust grains come from that comet, which will not return to the Sun until 2062, “adds Horálek.
This current flows through the Earth twice during the year. The first time in May and the second time in October, when the Orionid swarm culminates again.
June surprises with a solar eclipse
After six long years, a solar eclipse will finally take place over the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It will be only partial, but it will be accompanied by very favorable observational conditions. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia will be on the edge of the phenomenon of phenomena that will take place as a so-called annular eclipse in Canada, Greenland and Russia. People in Northeast America, virtually all of Europe and much of Asia will see it as partial.
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