With evening skies darkening a little earlier each day, the night sky, rarely seen over the last few months, once again returns, increasing the chances of spotting the occasional shooting star.
Shooting stars are not stars, of course, but rather small bits of rocks and ice left behind by a comet. Just sitting there, minding their own business until the Earth plows through them, the heat generated from being hit by our atmosphere at 1000 miles per hour burns them up in seconds. A nice moment for you, not so much for the rock.
The approximate date a meteor shower will happen is known; exactly how intense it will be is based on past experience. Your best bet is to get out on the predicted peak date or a day or two either side, when you should see meteors, from a rate of one every few minutes, up to a bunch a minute. On extremely rare occasions, you might even encounter a meteor storm, where you get a brief burst that looks very similar to driving through a heavy snow storm at night; these last from a few seconds to a few minutes, but the memory lasts a lifetime.
The next meteor shower of note is the Delta Aquarid Shower, running ‘late July thru’ early August’ and peaking July 27th-30th, so you could spot an Aquarid even tonight. This shower usually runs only 15-20 meteors per hour at the peak, but after this there are one or two showers more active showers every month through December.
The best time to view a meteor shower (with the exception of the Draconids in October), is after midnight, so you can never be too late. Before midnight is second best, so, no excuses.
To fully experience a meteor shower, you need a dark sky. Seek out the extreme fringes of urban areas, or better yet, call up a friend on a farm or an acreage and invite yourself over after midnight.
Moonlight is a problem. If a bright moon’s around, check out your TV guide instead.
You don’t need special equipment to watch a meteor shower; just look up. A reclining chair and blanket are nice, as is a hot beverage. Binoculars will let you check out those other things you spot between meteors. Oh yeah, I forgot... don’t forget mosquito repellent.
It’s been said that ‘meteor showers are like fishing. You go, you enjoy nature … and sometimes you catch something’. The reverse happened to me: while watching meteor showers from my back yard as a kid, I was caught and hooked on astronomy.
Viewing shooting stars arc gracefully across the sky is very peaceful experience, and they’re coming soon to a dark spot near you. Try your best to be there.
