I had my first Geminids meteor shower almost a decade ago and I counted at least a hundred meteors from night until dawn. It was a public observation by an astronomical organization I was applying to back in college. I recall most of us (still awake) would point and give a shout as we see a meteor, while lying on our backs and trying to fight sleep. I could have made a hundred wishes that night but the experience itself was already magical.
I have seen quite a few eclipses. There was one time as a child when I purposely woke up around 3 in the morning to see a lunar eclipse. I only watched from our bedroom's window and saw the moon turning pale red. I thought that time that a roof deck would be nice. Fast forward to today when I am still on the lookout for eclipses visible where I live. My husband gladly joins me in watching eclipses when I ask him to.
It would be nice to own a good camera to document our observations. It's not in our priority so our smartphone cameras are enough for now. Here are some lunar eclipses that we have seen here in Riyadh so far.
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Total lunar eclipse | 0457 H September 28, 2015 | Al Nahda Park
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| Total lunar eclipse | 0502 H September 28, 2015 | Al Nahda Park |
It was too bright to observe in the city. We'd have to drive at least an hour away from the city center to find a place with appropriate darkness to see the night sky more beautifully. The brightness in the city is also the same reason why we haven't watch a meteor shower here.
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| Partial lunar eclipse | 2030 H August 7, 2017 | Al Nahda Park |
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| Partial lunar eclipse | 2030 H August 7, 2017 | Al Nahda Park |
A sky maps and star chart smartphone application sends updates about astronomical events to look out for, which is extremely helpful for us. It's easy for most people to miss some astronomical events especially when they are not as viral as other people's interests in the social media (if you spend so much time in social media anyway.) Fortunately, there are already a lot of websites and pages that you can look up on to read news and know events about astronomy like NASA, Space.com, In-the-sky, Astronomy Magazine, Sky-map, and more.
Here are the following solar and lunar eclipses to watch out for in 2018 retrieved from In-the-sky. You can read more about the specifics in their website.
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| Partial solar eclipse February 15, 2018 |
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| Partial solar eclipse July 13, 2018 |
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| Partial solar eclipse August 11, 2018 |
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| Total lunar eclipse January 31, 2018 (visible in the Philippines) |
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| Total lunar eclipse July 27, 2018 (visible in Riyadh and in the Philippines) |
I hope more and more people get to enjoy night sky observation and be immersed in the beauty of darkness. And to those of us waiting for the events to see, happy observation and carpe noctem!☺
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