The year 2024 has its share of stunning astronomical events, and people in Goa who are interested in sky-gazing have a lot in store.
The month of January will be packed with conjunctions, or celestial spectacles of close grouping of celestial bodies.
On January 9, the Moon, Venus and red star Antares from Scorpio will appear in a stunning equilateral triangle formation joined by Mercury at 6 am.
A breathtaking close conjunction of Saturn, Moon occurs on the day of Makar Sankranti, followed by 3 planets and star Antares lining up at dawn on January 15.
Once again, the Moon and Jupiter come very close on January 18, while Mercury and Mars meet each other in the pre-dawn sky of January 27.
On February 5, the stunning phenomena of the Moon eclipsing the star Antares will be visible in the dawn sky, and the faint non-periodic comet Pan STARRS is also scheduled for an appearance on February 22.
March 20 and September 22 will see the setting Equinox Sun light up the altars of the Holy Spirit Church in Margao in a stunning cosmic light show.
The months of August to November will have continuous Supermoons, and the most spectacular meteor showers this year is expected to be The Leonids in November, and Geminids in December.
The unique factor of 2024 is that not a single eclipse will be visible in Goa for the entire year.
The Public Astronomical Observatories in Panjim and Margao, besides others, will be open to the general public for most of these events, and special programs will be held to mark them.
A simple 4-session Basic Astronomy certificate course (for all age groups) will commence at the Panjim Observatory from January 6, 2023.
For more details, check out afagoa.org
The cosmic events visible in Goa in 2024 are listed below:
