February 1st, 2022 by Sarah Miles

Even a beginner would-be astronomer can get some great results from an entry level telescope, just by selecting the best times for stargazing. As a rule of thumb, the best opportunities for seeing a range of stars, planets, and even galaxies and nebulae come when the sky is darkest and clearest and this can be determined by the moon cycle, time of year, time of night, and weather condition. We’ll explain more about some of these as we go on.

Here is a 2022 calendar that will take you through the best the sky has to offer in any given month.

January

Moon cycle: A new moon is the cycle of the moon where it is least visible and therefore emits the least light. (The opposite of a full moon). It’s when the sun and moon are aligned, and the moon is positioned between the sun and the earth. This occurs once in every synodic month (the moon’s full cycle), which lasts 29.5 days so is roughly equivalent to a calendar month. While the sky is darkest at the time of the new moon, there is also good visibility either side of it when the moon is in waxing and waning crescent phases.

The first new moon of 2022 is on 2nd January.

Meteor shower: A meteor shower occurs when a number of meteors are seen to originate from one point in the sky. They are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering the earth’s atmosphere at high speeds on parallel trajectories. Some, but not all, can be seen from earth.

A meteor shower is expected on 3rd/4th January.

Visible Mercury: The planet, Mercury, becomes visible when its proximity becomes closest to earth. You may even be able to see it with the naked eye.

Mercury is likely to be visible around 7th January.

February

New Moon: 1st February.

Visible Mercury: 16th February.

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March

New Moon: 2nd March.

April

New Moon: 1st and 30th April.

Meteor shower: 22nd/23rd April.

Partial solar eclipse: A partial solar eclipse is when the moon covers a section of the sun. In technical terms, the moon casts only the outer part, the penumbra, of its shadow on earth. In layman’s terms, it looks rather like the moon has taken a bite out of the sun!

A partial solar eclipse will occur on 30th April.

May

New Moon: 30th May.

Meteor shower: 6th/7th May.

Total lunar eclipse: A total lunar eclipse happens when the earth comes between the sun and the full moon, blocking the sun’s rays and preventing them from lighting up the moon.

A total lunar eclipse will take place twice in 2022. The first date is on 16th May.

June

New Moon: 29th June.

Visible Mercury: 6th June.

Summer solstice: Summer solstice is on the 21st of June and is the day when we get the longest hours of daylight. This is actually counter-productive for stargazing as the sky will only be dark for a short period. Knowing when not to stargaze is as useful as knowing when it’s a good time to do so.

July

New Moon: 28th July.

Meteor shower: 28th/29th July.

August

New Moon: 27th August.

Meteor shower: 12th/13th August.

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September

New Moon: 25th September.

October

New Moon: 25th October.

Meteor shower: 7th October and 21st/22nd October.

Partial solar eclipse: 25th October.

November

New Moon: 23rd November.

Meteor shower: 4th/5th November.

Total lunar eclipse: 8th November.

December

New Moon: 23rd December.

Meteor shower: 21st/22nd December.

Visible Mercury: 31st December.

Winter solstice: Just as the summer solstice represents the longest day of the year, the winter solstice is the shortest. This, therefore, provides plenty of opportunity for stargazing with the sky becoming dark quite early in the evening (the best time is 1.5-2 hours after sunset when twilight has passed). The winter solstice 2022 will be on 21st December.