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[...] 12th: The Perseids have a broad peak centered on 13:00 UT, with a ZHR of about a 100. This shower will favor the [...]
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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
The Algonquin Indians had names for each of the seasonal Full Moons, many of which survive today. The Full Snow Moon pictured occurs in the month of December, when the first large winter storms coat the ground with snow. This Full Moon also tends to fall near the Winter Solstice, and thus rides high in the nightly sky opposite to the Sun on long winter nights.
Every rocket launch is unique, but twilight shuttle launches where by far the most impressive. The image pictured was of the April 5th, 2010 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center at dawn. The exhaust plume caught the rising Sun overhead just right, and numerous noctilucent clouds persisted right up until sunrise. Unfortunately, space shuttle launches are now relegated to the pages of history.
Astro-Event-Perseid Weekend: “It’s Raining Meteors!”
How ‘bout that sky-crane landing Curiosity made on Mars, huh? Over a ton of the finest in human science engineering all moving from 3.6 miles per second to stationary on the surface of Mars in seven minutes flat. It must’ve truly lit up the Martian atmosphere for any would-be Martians on the ground…
The good news is, this weekend YOU can witness a similar fireworks display, gracing the skies of Earth in the form of the Perseid meteor shower. This is the most anticipated meteor shower of 2012. I KNOW… meteors are tiny dust-like grains of cometary debris, not spacecraft from another world, so you can save us the inevitable commentary… but DO drop us a line with your tales of Perseid-awesomeness, we are always interested. DO NOT, however, call Meteorite Man Geoffrey Notkin about “rocks I found the next morning in my yard,” although I’m sure someone will, as they do every year. Meteorites, like you see in the Smithsonian and meteor showers caused by the Earth’s annual intersection of a stream of cometary debris are two separate entities. To date, a meteorite fall has never been linked to a meteor shower.
Movement of the Perseid radiant through the month of August…
(Created by the Author in Starry Night).
This year, the Perseids have a number of things going for them. First up, the predicted peak occurs on August 12th around 13:19 Universal Time or 09:19 Eastern Daylight Savings Time. This is a day earlier than usual due to 2012 being a leap year, and multiple peaks could arrive early or late. I typically start watching on successive mornings a few days prior and as an added bonus this year’s Perseids fall on the weekend. Also, the Moon will be at a waning crescent phase, and only 23% illuminated on the morning of Sunday, August 12th. It will rise around 2PM local on that same date, and will prove to be only a minor hindrance for your meteor viewing pleasure. In fact, the same is true for this year’s Leonids and Geminds, and we only realized last year that these three showers are spaced about 95 and 27 days apart respectively on the calendar, which can be roughly evenly divided by the Moon’s 29.5 day lunation phase. The upshot of this is, IF the Moon phase is favorable during the Perseids on a particular year, its generally good during the Leonids and Geminids, and vice versa.
This year, the peak favors Hawaii and the western Pacific, but keep in mind that it can arrive early or late. This year, predictions are for a max Zenithal Hourly Rate of 90-100, but in excess of 200 per hour were reported in the early 1990’s & 2004, though last year’s Perseids were down in the range of about 60 per hour due to moonlight.
Note also that the radiant does drift a bit to the east through August as the shower progresses; the Perseids have one of the most northerly radiants of any shower known. In fact, the source of the Perseids wasn’t conclusively identified until 1973, when Brian Marsden studied the return periodic comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle.
Be sure to get out there this weekend and join us, bug spray and thermos of coffee in hand, on Perseid vigil. Follow our handy guide, tweet those meteors to #Meteorwatch, and follow the current activity via the International Meteor Observer’s quick look chart… The Sky is Waiting!