The Night Sky Guy

New Night Sky Episode

This week we talk about the Perseid meteor shower performance and weekend outlook for more shooting stars and a pretty planet, moon lineup.

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Perseids Shower Underway

Get set for a great show! Skywatchers worldwide are reporting that the pre game show night before the peak,  meteor counts were averaging up to 40 per hour from some locales. These higher numbers were probably from observers in dark locations away from the light pollution of cities, and so many of the fainter metoers were visible. But still this bodes well for even those caught within city limits – tonight’s main act peak numbers should at least double! Check out the worldwide Perseid meteor count chart in my previous entry below, courtesy of IMO. How best to watch the meteor shower? Check out my guide here. Stay tuned for updates…

Also here are some cool links just  underneath to some great meteor shower online resources – in case you are stuck indoors or clouded out. Tip of the hat to Spaceweather.com.

• Live Meteor Radar — listen to Perseid radar echoes
• 2010 Perseid Photo Gallery — from Spaceweather.com
• Perseid Fireball Cam — flashes in the night, from NASA
• Planet Triangle Show Tonight — from National Geographic
• Viewer’s Guide to Perseids – from National Geopgraphic
• Perseid Twitter Feed — from NASA meteor expert 

Don’t  forget you can always get late-breaking stargazing news anytime by joining my fanpage on Facebook, or get  email alerts sent directly to your inbox

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August Sky Highlights

Check out this great video put together by the folks at JPL NASA on the Perseids and planets this week.

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Guide to Year’s Best Meteor Shower

With the peak time for the annual Perseid meteor shower – the best cosmic fireworks show in the Universe- only days away, there are already reports from keen observers of a few of these cosmic travelers streaking through our atmosphere. Hourly rates are ramping up every day now with about 20 per hour being reported by observers around the world last night, but this will change significantly on Thursday night, August 12th as we plough into the thickest part of the cloud of space debris that causes the shower. Latest reports from experts say we may be in for a great show this year…

According to the International Meteor Organization, ” the shower surprised on several occasions over the last two decades by showing outbursts of 150 to 400+ meteors/hour due to the Earth passing through regions of higher density in the dust stream (e.g., ZHR ~200 last year). Simulations by Jeremie Vaubaillon and Mikhail Maslov indicate that we may again encounter ‘dust trails’ this year, left behind when the parent comet passed the Sun in the years 441, 1479 and 1862.”

The numbers you see per hour really depend on local sky conditions – ie. clouds, haze, and light pollution. And for this year NASA astronomers are calculating we may be in for a better shower than usual thanks to Earth’s placement in space in relation to the swarm of meteors we hit. Meteors are produced by the high-speed impact on the Earth’s atmosphere of small dust grains floating in outer space in large clouds. What makes the Persieds so interesting is that this cloud we slam into at 150,000 km per hour is leftover pieces from comet Swift-Tuttle (disc. 1862, orbital period 130 years) . Every year around the same time in August our planet crosses the path of this cometary dust cloud making for a night of shooting stars. It’s like when you drive fast on the highway in the summer and bugs splatter on your windshield. In this case Earth’s atmosphere is our windshield and the bugs are the meteors.

How to Observe ?

Watch the Northeast sky where shooting stars radiate out from; click image to enlarge

To best observe the Perseids is to lie outside in a reclining lawn chair and look straight up. Forget binoculars or a telescope with their too narrow fields of view, the unaided eyes are best for seeing meteors streak across the entire sky.

Perseids meteors can be seen anytime when the constellation Perseus, for which the shower is named after, is well above the northeastern horizon. The shower runs roughly from July. 26 to Aug. 19 and peak Aug. 12-13.
Where to Observe ?

The Perseids take their name from the constellation Perseus, in which they appear to originate from in the sky. What this means for skywatchers is that you can trace back each meteor’s streak of light back to that piece of sky real estate. Perseus rises above the eastern horizon about 10 pm. The best time to look however is during the early morning hours between about 2 a.m. and dawn. That’s when our local sky is pointing directly into the Perseid meteor stream.

Don’t give up if it’s cloudy Thursday night. The Perseid shower lasts for about two weeks, with good rates in the predawn hours of August 8th through 14th. This new Moon on august 10th means a moonless night for peak time so it will NOT be present to block out the fainter meteors.  Remember that far fewer meteors will appear before midnight, even on the night of the shower’s maximum, because the radiant is then quite low in the sky. The radiant is always low or below the horizon for Southern Hemisphere countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, where few, if any, Perseids can be seen.

But this year may be somewhat different – as mentinoed above new calculation show that we may encounter a filament of old cometary material we never went through before plus Earth may enter a thicker part of the debris cloud as well, making for a better than usual show.

Let’s just hope the weather holds out!

Heads up! Montreal Skywatchers come on out to a free meteor shower party being put on by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada at the Morgan Arboretum in Ste. Anne-de-Belllevue. I will be giving a public lecture starting at 8 pm followed by telescope viewing of the planetary alignment (Mars, Venus, Saturn in triangle formation in western sky after sunset). Stay for the shooting stars late into the night. Here are the directions.  Don’t forget to bring blankets, hot chocolate and friends…

Also a really cool event on August 13-14, 2010, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is organizing Tremblant Beneath the Stars in collaboration with Station Mont-Tremblant (Mont-Tremblant Ski Resort) and the Club des astronomes amateurs de Laval (the Laval Amateur Astronomy Club).

During the event, the public is invited to visit CSA’s tent, to wish upon shooting stars and meet with amateur astronomers at the summit of Mont-Tremblant. For more information about Tremblant Beneath the Stars’ program, visit the CSA’s Website.

See if there are any activities in your neck of the woods across Canada and the US.

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Tonight: Bits of Halley’s Comet

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is peaking tonight (into the early Friday morning hours) with a sprinkle of debris from Halley’s Comet.

image credit: Astronomy.com

Favouring southern hemisphere observers, from a dark sky as many as 20 to 30 shooting stars may be visible. for folks in the North, we can expect more modest numbers  of 10 to 20 per hour at peak time after local midnight tonight thanks to the  Moon’s glare and the shower radiant appearing very close to the southeastern horizon.  Experts are predicting that these numbers may persist into the following night.  But there may be surprises in store. Experts at  International Meteor Organization are saying that activity could be near the peak of a theoretical 12-year cycle with rates as high as 85 per hour at peak times between 2 am and 4 am Friday. Aquarid parent, Halley’s Comet last passed by Earth in 1986, and is due to arrive again in 2061.

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Mini Meteor Shower Tonight

Lyrids peak pre-dawn Thursday; click image to enlarge

Skywatchers get ready for the Lyrid meteor shower peaking tonight into Thursday morning. This small annual shower will havemodest number of  shooting stars falling at rates of 20 per our between 2 am and 4 am.  Best way to see them is to face the southeast and look up to the overhead sky.  Get comfy on a reclining chair with warm blankets-  and be patient! It will take your eyes about 15 minutes to adapt to the darkness so that you can see the fainter meteors.  Each meteor appears to radiate out from the constellation Lyra – the shower’s namesake – very close to the lead star Vega – one of the most brilliant stars in the entire sky.  Best location to see the show is outside of the city – as far away from light pollution as you can get. From suburbs you will probably see closer to 5 to 10 metoers per hour at peak times. But the Lyrids are known to be   quite unpredictable and there has been burst of activity where meteor numbers skyrocket up towards 100 per hour! Will it happen this year? The only way to know is if you go outside and look up.

For more in-depth info on the Lyrids check out my National Geographic article

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New Video of Midwestern Fireball

Take a look at this cool video compilation of the the green fireball seen over much of the U.S. Midwestern region last night. Police stations and the FAA got flooded with calls from eyewitnesses who saw this meteor shooting across the heavens and creating a big light show and even sonic boom heard across many states. No reports yet of any fragments making it to the ground.

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Ontario Meteor Lights up Sky

On the night of February 20th  at about 6:15 pm, the evening sky was lit up across southern Ontario by a small meteor, otherwise known as a shooting star. Reports indicate that it may have been a baseball to basketball size space rock that burned up in the upper atmosphere at least 30 km in altitude.  Events like these are not all that uncommon, but when they occur over populated areas during evening hours they do get noticed by hundreds if not thousands of people.  Usually meteors are sand grain sized material that hits Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds and get burned up completely before ever hitting the ground. Sometimes larger rocks can produce what is known as a bolide – a bright fireball with a trail of smoke – and can actually make it to the ground. From the many dozens of accounts I have received it appears the February 20th meteor fall put on quite a light show.

Eyewitness from Ottawa region say it appeared as a bright flash nearly overhead while observers in the Toronto area describe a bright yellow/orange coloured streak lasting 2 to 5  seconds about 30 to 40 degrees above the southeastern horizon – heading south.  So far there are no indications that any fragments made it to the ground.

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Montreal Meteor Last Night?

This morning I have been fielding media calls and getting reports from skywatchers about a possible meteor-fireball seen over the Montreal city skies last night, Thursday at 7:30 pm. Most descriptions say that it was a bluish-green fireball that appeared to go in and out of the clouds, with bits splitting off, all occurring  in just a matter of a second or two. This is consistent with what astronomers call a bolide – a space rock coming through the atmosphere at about 20 km per second and ionizing anywhere 5 to 100 km in altitude. How big was the meteor itself? They can be anywhere from the size of a baseball to a sofa. We will have to wait to see if there were any photos or video taken of the event- which astronomers could use to determine if and where there might be any meteorites on the ground.

Here is a snippet of what witnesses are saying…”I saw it. There were some clouds but not much, it didn’t obstruct my view and it was going towards Orion’s belt which was very clear in the sky last night between 19h40 and 19h50. It’s trajectory was horizontal but slightly downward and still far from falling. The color was fluorescent green and what seems to me to be as big as a basketball with a small trail. I saw it coming from over Montreal all the way across the sky to towards St-Basile-Le-Grand. So although it only lasted a few seconds, I had a good look.” -Edith – St.Bruno

“As I was driving home last night through St-Eustache, Quebec I chanced to look out my left window. I was shocked to see a bright bluish green fireball or meteorite with a beautiful tail flying through the sky which lasted several seconds. Just before it extinguished there was a small bit that broke off.” – Renee, St-Eustache.

Did you see the meteor last night? If so, send me a report in the comments link below or even photos or videos at : andrew@thenightskyguy.com If it was anything like the one seen over Toronto-Hamilton skyline on Sept.25th last year – there may even be some chunks that may have landed. Check out this video of the Ontario/Grimsby meteor (size of a tricycle)- the Montreal one should have put on a similar show. This footage was taken by a seven all-sky video cameras set up by meteor researchers at University of Western Ontario. 

In past events like these, security cameras in parking lots for instance, may have recorded something. Also police car dashcams can make amazing records of fireballs like this one. Check out this video made in November 20, 2008 from a cop car in Edmonton, Alberta. It would be wonderful to get footage like this from Thursday’s event.

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Tonight: Flurry of Meteors

Quadrantids radiate out from Bootes constellation

If you have clear skies tonight you may want check out very short but intense meteor shower peaking-into early Sunday morning hours. Expectations are that the Quadrantids shower can produce between 40 and 60 meteors per hour.

What’s up with that funny name – Quadrantids? This shower takes its name from a defunct 18th century constellation, Quadrans Muralis retired more than a cenutry ago, and piece of celestial real estate found between Draco, Hercules and Bootes. To view January’s big headliner shower, go outside tonight after 10 pm facing the northeastern sky- predicted maximum is at 2 a.m. The shower appears to radiate from the constellation Bootes – the herdsman. While unfortunately a bright waning gibbous moon will interfere with tonight’s show the Quadrantids tend to be brighter streaks that will be able to compete with the lunar glare.

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