Prepared by: Dr. Omar Fikry

Observing the sky is of a great pleasure but light pollution deprived us from this visual and intellectual pleasure. Even though astronomers and astronomy amateurs declared that the year 2017 is relatively poor in terms of the number of phenomena that could be monitored. But there are some important phenomena that could be monitored in the sky of Alexandria.

Wednesday Night, 1 February

After the suns et immediately, astrophotography and sky observing amateurs can watch the alignment of Venus, Mars and the crescent of the HIjri month Jumadi el Awal, which is 4 days old only. this scene needs a clear sky and a convenient place for observing and photography. The moon at that night appears just like how it is shown in the famous program stellarium.




Saturday Night, 11 February

It is the night when the crescent turns into a full Moon. Moreover, a partial lunar eclipse will occur. The lunar eclipse occurs due to the passage of the Moon in the Earth's umbra. The total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is in the center of the umbra. While the partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon intersects with the cone of the umbra; and this phenomena will occur on this night. What will be seen is a dimmed moonlight. We can watch the lunar eclipse in Egypt at 2:44 on this night.




Thursday Night, 16 February

The Moon will visit Jupiter and stay next to it throughout this night where the new moon will develop. This night will be a good chance to observe and take photos but after midnight.



Sunday Night, 26 February

This is the night when the new moon of the Hijri month Jumadi al-Akhar will be born; this new moon is exceptional as it will cause the first solar eclipse this year. But this time it will be an annular eclipse, and unfortunately this eclipse will not be seen in Egypt and any other Arab country. This second solar eclipse will occur on 21 August. The new moon will be born at 4:59 CLT.

The annular solar eclipse will start from Chile and Southern Argentina passing by the ocean arriving at Angola and Congo, as shown in the official map of the eclipse from NASA's website.


Photos credit: NASA's educational website, but they have been edited and arabized, in addition to stellarium program.