A Look Ahead at 2014: Stars, Mars, Meteors and More

As the year winds down, book stores are full of almanacs and other time capsules reflecting on the year that was.

Throughout the next few weeks, we’re going to take a look at some of features in the World Almanac and Book of Facts 2014, which was released in print in November and in e-publication earlier this month.

Let’s take a look at the upcoming year in celestial events: Seeing stars, planets, meteor showers and other cool things in the sky.

2014 Celestial Events

• January 16 — Full Moon
• February — Mars rises late in the evening and is high in the southwest at sunrise.
• March 1 and 30 — New Moon
• April 15 — Full Moon, Total Lunar eclipse
• May — Venus is low in the east before sunrise all month
• June — Jupiter is in the west at sunset and sets in the late evening.
• July 5 — First Quarter Moon
• August 13 — Perseid meteor shower
• September — Saturn is in the southwest at sunset and sets several hours later.
• October 21 — Orionid meteor shower
• November 17 — Leonid meteor shower
• December 14 — Gemenid meteor shower

Some Famous Constellations and What They Mean

• Aquarius = water bearer
• Canis Major = big dog
• Cassiopeia = queen
• Delphinus = dolphin
• Mensa = table mountain
• Norma = square
• Orion = hunter
• Ursa Major = big bear
• Virgo = maiden

Did You Know?

• The largest, most massive planet is Jupiter.
• The fastest orbiting planet is Mercury.
• The planet with the most moons is Jupiter.
• The planet with the tallest mountain is Mars.
• The slowest orbiting planet is Neptune.
• The hottest planet is Venus.

You Thought Your Days Were Long…

A day (midday to midday) on each planet is:

• Mercury = 175.94 days
• Venus = 116.75 days
• Mars = 24 hours 39 minutes 35 seconds
• Jupiter = 9 hours 55 minutes 33 seconds
• Saturn = 10 hours 39 minutes 23 seconds
• Uranus = 17 hours 14 minutes 23 seconds
• Neptune = 16 hours 6 minutes 37 seconds
• Earth = 24 hours