A lunar occultation of Saturn, meteor showers and planetary conjunctions are among the cosmic events visible from Taiwan this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said in a statement yesterday.
This year there are multiple lunar occultations, which occur when the moon blocks a celestial body from sight, including a rare occultation of Saturn on July 25, the museum said.
Occultations of Saturn are only visible from Taiwan every decade or so, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Astronomical Museum
After the one on July 25, local stargazers will need to wait 12 years to see another, it said.
The museum said it would livestream footage of the Quadrantids meteor shower from 8pm to midnight when it opens this year’s cosmic calendar tomorrow night.
Viewing conditions for each meteor shower vary, the statement said, adding that the best viewing this year would be the Eta Aquariids on May 6.
The Perseids on Aug. 12 is better viewed later at night as it will be a first-quarter moon, while the Geminids on Dec. 14 will coincide with a full moon, negatively affecting viewing conditions, it said.
Stargazers can also see numerous planetary conjunctions, when two or more planets appear in close proximity, the museum said.
The museum recommended observing the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on Aug. 15, when the two planets will be closest together as viewed from Earth from midnight to sunrise.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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