From snow moons to lunar eclipses, we've already had a couple of exciting celestial events happening this year. But there is plenty of 2017 left so, to make matters simpler, we created a handy dandy little calendar that highlights the remaining sky-related events that you should be watching out for in the months to come. Take a look:
March 20: Equinox. The sun will shine on the equator, which means that there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the entire world. It's also the first day of spring.
March 27: New Moon. The sky will go dark as the New Moon lights our skies at 10:59pm EST.
April 11: Full Moon. This month's moon is called Wind Moon (or Pink Moon). Apparently, it seeks to encourage "you to reflect upon what you can control" so get your priorities in order by 2:08am EST, which is when the moon will peak.
April 22: Lyrids meteor shower. Expect 20 meteors per hours at the shower's peak, which will happen after midnight.
April 26: New Moon. It'll crest at 8:16am EST.
May 6: Eta Aquarids meteor shower. This is exciting: the shower can produce up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak, which will happen the night of May 6 and will mainly be seen in the Southern Hemisphere.
May 10: Full Moon. Known as the Full Flower Moon because occurring during the time that spring flowers were mostly in abundance, this moon is also sometimes referred to as the Full Corn Planting Moon and the Milk Moon.
May 25: New Moon.
June 9: Full Moon. Known as the Full Strawberry Moon "because it signaled the time of year to gather ripening fruit." Alternative names: Full Rose Moon and Full Honey Moon.
June 21: June Solstice. This is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere... and the first day of winter in the Southern hemisphere.
June 24: New Moon.
July 9: Full Moon. It is referred to as Full Buck Moon ("male buck deer would begin to grow their new antlers at this time of the year), Full Thunder Moon and Full Hay Moon.
July 23: New Moon.
July 28: Delta Aquarids Meteor show. Produced by debris left behind by comets Marsden and Kracht, this event can create up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak, the night of July 28.
August 7: Full Moon. Called Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon or Full Sturgeon Moon (because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes were more easily caught at this time of the year), this full moon coincides with a partial lunar eclipse, which means, given the moon's passing through the Earth's partial shadow, it will only be partially dark.
August 12: Perseids Meteor Shower. It's produced by comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered back in 1862, and it will produce a whole lot of bright meteors when peaking the night of August 12 through the morning of August 13.
August 21: Total Solar Eclipse. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event: The last time this happened in the United States it was 1979 and it won't happen again until 2024. What is this about? The moon will completely block the sun, so you'll be able to see the "corona," which is the sun's outer atmosphere. A New Moon will happen tonight as well.
September 6: Full Moon.
September 20: New Moon. It will actually not be visible this time around.
September 22: September Equinox. Also: first day of fall!
October 5: Full Moon. This month's full moon is known as the Full Hunters Moon, Harvest Moon, Travel Moon and Blood Moon.
October 7: Draconids Meteors Shower. This is a minor shower but you should still watch out for it.
October 19: New Moon.
October 21: Orionids Meteors Shower. Produced by the dust grains left behind by comet Halley, it will be best viewed from a dark spot after midnight.
November 4: Full Moon and Taurids Meteor Shower. The latter will only produce 5-10 meteors per hour at its peak but is made of two separate streams, which is unusual. The first will arise from debris left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10 and the second one by dust grains originating from Comet 2P Encke.
November 17: Leonids Meteor Shower. What makes this shower unique is that it peaks about every 33 years, at which point it produces hundreds of meteors per hour (it occurred last in 2001).
November 18: New Moon.
December 3: Supermoon. This month's full moon is a Supermoon because it will be located right on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and will therefore be fully illuminated.
December 13: Geinids Meteor Shower. You don't want to miss this one: It is considered one of the best showers ever, producing up to 120 multicolored meteors per hour at its peak.
December 18: New Moon.
December 21: December Solstice. Also known as the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the solstice coincides with a minor meteor shower called Ursids.