Today we discuss the most popular and mind-blowing astronomical sky events of the 21st century. These events happened because of gravitational force, continuous movements of planets, and many changes in the system of stars. Some astronomical events are so rare that occur after many years of the arrival of comets. Today technology capable astronomists to see these amazing events and capture images. Some of these events can see with the naked eye. Most of them happen for a short time and disappear within a second.
But some are expected, and we can see them at the right place at the right time. Many astronomists capture images of these events. These wondered the scientist and the whole world. Given below is the list of the top 10 rarest astronomical sky events of the 21st century.
10. Venus Transition – 2012
An astronomical phenomenon that happened last time in 2012 was Venus Transition. And It occurs when Venus planet comes between Sun and the Earth. This traverse Venus looks like a black disc within the sun shade as seen from the earth. This event occurs every eight years. However, the position of Venus may vary within the sunshade. It comes after 110 years period in the same situation as earlier transits. It was an excellent scene for the people.
9. Total Solar Eclipse – 2012
This mind-blowing astronomical sky event can see many times in a year and is called a partial solar eclipse. But the Total solar eclipse is very rare. In this phenomenon Moon completely covers the Sun for a short time interval. The total solar eclipse was recorded last time in November 2012. Moon makes 400 times closer approach to the sun as compared to earth and chances of a full solar eclipse increased. When the sun’s disc disappears into the moon’s crescent and scientifically it is known as Umbra. According to a scientist, it will not happen for the next 138 years.
8. Blue Moon – 2016
Moon has its charms in this world and people relate it to Fairytales. What is Blue Moon? It is the second full moon in one month. This rare occasion happened when the first full moon falls at the beginning of the month and then the blue moon falls at the end of the month. It happens very rarely every two years. It has astronomical significance because it is possible it appeared in blue due to atmosphere coloring particles. The first time it was looked in 1883 in blue color when Indonesia exploded and filled the atmosphere with solid ash and the Moon turns to blue on a full Moon day. It last happened on 21 May 2016 and the next will occur in 2018.
7. Planetary Alignment – 2015
In the solar system, the possibility of planets’ alignments is a very rare phenomenon. It happened in May 2011, and last occurred in 2015. The Sun, Earth, Neptune alignment is seen which followed the earth-Venus, Mars alignment, and Mars- Mercury square alignment is active in the arrangement as mentioned above. It may be caused by the earthquake, and this different alignment of planets continues from 4 September to 30 September 2015. And Earth Key date was 4 September 2015. Now, this rare alignment will occur in 2040.
6. Comet ISON – 2012
This phenomenon is also known as the Sun-grazing comet, and two Russian Astronomers discovered it on 12 September 2012. Comet ISON started from the edge of the solar system Oort Cloud. ISON of this century became extinct on 28th November 2013, and it is brighter than the full moon. It appears in parabolic shape and before merging with the sun it made a long journey of 3.5 billion years. During this journey, it gains more length by the addition of dust particles every minute. By making a close approach of 750000 miles, it finally became extinct.
5. Leonid Meteor Storm – 2015
This phenomenon was first discovered in 1833 and it occurred when Earth passed through the orbit of comet Tempel-Tuttle. There are 1000 meteors in an hour during the Leonid meteor storm and continue for more than 15 minutes. This comet orbits around the sun every 33 years. The last time it was seen was in 2015 and it said that comet Tempel-Tuttle can produce in an hour about 100000 meters.
4. Messier 82 Supernova Explosion – 2014
A cigar-shaped galaxy in Ursa about 11 million light years away from us is called Messier 82. Some astronomy students in London discovered the first young supernova on 21 January 2014 which is visible from earth. They took the photo of Messier 82 and noticed that a new bright star was found in the galaxy, Supernova 2014. These are rare astronomical objects and appeared every 27 years.
3. Solar Tornado Captured On The Sun’s Surface – 2012
On 8 February 2012, something unusual was recorded on the surface of the sun over 30 hours. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) showed a beautiful and fascinating color video of the sun for two years. In the picture, A solar tornado on the sun’s surface is seen which create by magnetism. The Hurricanes on the earth’s surface are produced by the wind. It was an amazing phenomenon of the 21st century which never been seen before.
2. Earth from Mars and Saturn – 2013
An astronomical event captured from Mars on 31 January 2014 spotted the Earth as a pale blue dot from Mars’s surface. When we are seen from the earth mars looks like a red dot. This view was fantastic when they saw our moon is also visible orbiting our planet. NASA asked the earth’s inhabitants to smile and look at Saturn in the sky. When they captured, the photo the surface appeared as a pale blue dot between two rings the E and G ring, and this unusual phenomenon was recorded on 19 July 2013.
1. Birth of New Moon – 2016
Cassini’s spacecraft took this image during his Saturn mission. He took a photo in which a new moon was formed and emerging from Saturn’s rings. It was named Peggy and is 5 km in diameter, and it comes from the outermost ring of Saturn as it has many rings. Scientists believed this moon formed from icy particles in the rings and pushed towards the outer edge. Cassini captured these images in 2016 and wandered the world.
Top 10 Rarest & Mind-Blowing Astronomical Sky Events
| Sr. No | Astronomical Sky events | Last Seen |
| 1 | Birth of New Moon | 2016 |
| 2 | Earth from Mars and Saturn | 2013 |
| 3 | Solar Tornado Captured On The Sun’s Surface | 2012 |
| 4 | Messier 82 Supernova Explosion | 2014 |
| 5 | Leonid Meteor Storm | 2015 |
| 6 | Comet ISON | 2012 |
| 7 | Planetary Alignment | 2015 |
| 8 | Blue Moon | 2016 |
| 9 | Total Solar Eclipse | 2012 |
| 10 | Venus Transition | 2012 |
Conclusion
We conclude from this article astronomy makes progress rapidly and discovers many new things. These astronomical events can not record without astronomical objects. I hope this article will be helpful for science-related students. If you want to see these unusual astronomical events then wait, for when they will happen next time in the 21st century.
