Skywatching in 2020: Top astronomical events and visible planets in the night sky to watch

If you are interested in gazing up at the sky trying to see the different phenomenons of space then this is your year. Skywatching in 2020 is very eventful if you know what is going to happen and when. Here is a list of those events

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2020 Is A Big ‘Year Of Planets.’ Here’s When To See Mars, Saturn, Jupiter And Venus At Their Best

February 18th: Mars behind the Moon 

As the moon rises in the small hours of this morning, skywatchers will be preparing for an unusual event: The moon will glide in front of reddish, starlike Mars for viewers across North America, Central America, extreme northern South America, Cuba and Haiti. This event will occur prior to sunrise across the western half of North America. For the eastern half of the continent, the moon will cross in front of Mars in daylight, when the Red Planet isn't visible. 

April: "Glory nights" for Venus 

Early April finds Venus near the peak of its highest evening apparition and close to the Pleiades star cluster. On the American evenings of April 2 and 3, the bright lantern of a world will be on the edge of the cluster, and nearly overwhelm the naked-eye view of the Pleiades. With sufficient telescopic magnification, the dazzling, golden-white, thick crescent of Venus floating near the blue-white stars of the cluster will be visible. By late April, Venus will be approaching its awesome maximum brightness – but also its mighty fall – from evening skies. 

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October is the month of Mars

As was the case in 2018, the year 2020 will be a spectacular year for Mars. The Red Planet arrives at opposition to the Sun on October 13th. Mars will become so bright between Sept. 29 and Oct. 28  that it will supplant Jupiter as the second-brightest planet and become the third brightest object in the nighttime sky.

Dec. 21: Jupiter and Saturn's "great conjunction"

On Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will provide a rare opportunity to both in the same view of a high-powered telescope. In fact, this will be the "tightest" conjunction of these two worlds since 1623. They will be separated by just one-fifth of the apparent diameter of the full moon.

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