Gadgetory

the planets are literally aligning so make sure and look up from your phone and into the night sky this week and next because there's a lot going on with celestial bodies in our galaxy here's a rundown of what to watch out for in the night sky in your neck of the woods this Friday July 27th a large swath of our planet will witness the longest total lunar eclipse of this century when the Sun the earth and the moon will line up creating the perfect conditions for a Blood Moon this event will cause the earth to cast a reddish shadow onto our moon which will be visible from parts of Australia Asia Africa South America and Europe sorry North America you will need to watch this online Mars will be making its closest approach to the earth since the year 2003 between July 27th and July 31st the red planet will be in opposition of the earth creating a phenomenon called Mars opposition Mars will appear very bright in the night sky right next to the Blood Moon shortly after sunset Mars will have its closest approach to earth on July 31st and will be clearly visible Venus Mars Jupiter and Saturn will be only 36 million miles away and may be visible with the naked eye as well in 2003 Mars and Earth were the closest they've been in 60,000 years roughly 30 4.6 million miles or 50 5.7 million kilometers NASA said this planet proximity won't happen again until the year 22 87 so go outside and check it out and finally between August 11th and August 13th some observers on earth will be able to see the Perseid meteor shower originating from the Perseus constellation people should see about 60 to 70 meteors per hour during this three-day period although the meteor shower just take place over a few weeks time meteor showers occur when the earth travels through debris fields left behind by comets and asteroids you can see the Perseid meteor shower best in the northern hemisphere but it is also visible in mid southern latitudes you can read more about how to watch these astronomical events at cnet.com