Eta Aquarid Meteors
Category: Meteors
Watch the sky before Friday dawn
The new year of 2025 opens with the peak of a meteor shower! But you have to get up really early to watch on Jan. 3 or stay up really late tonight, Thursday, Jan. 2. Also, look north.
It the the Quadrantid shower. And it’s a good one. However, unlike other meteor events the peak is short but sweet. Expect close to 100 meteors flying across the sky for a few hours before dawn, Friday. But even 200 have been known at its peak.
The Quadrantids actually started in late November and continue until mid January but their peak at more than 80 an hour. It is when their radiant is high overhead early this Friday morning. The sky should be dark because a waxing crescent moon will have set early the night before.
This shower gets its name from the Quadrans Muralis, an obsolete constellation. Its radiant is near the Big Dipper which will be in the far northern sky tonight so not easily visible in the Southern Hemisphere. Its parent is the asteroid 2003 EH1.
BTW This is the only good meteor shower to watch until April.
For more info visit EarthSky, Time and Date, Space.
Catch falling stars but note full moon
Look up,the Geminids are here. They will be around until Dec. 24 in 2024, but they peak December 13-15.
Flying across the sky at about 120 to 150 per hour, the Geminids are among the best meteor showers of the year.
Instead of seeming to come from (known as the radiant) a comet, the Geminids are from the 3200 Phaethon which is an asteroid. That’s the good news.
Not so good is that December’s full moon, called the Cold Moon, will be lighting up the sky at the same time. It looks full Dec. 13-16 but reaches full illumination the morning of Dec. 15.
The problem is the full moon really will lite up not just the sky but your landscape making it hard to catch the Geminids. EarthSky has a couple of suggestions to counter the full moon including looking for a spot that is in shadow.
The moon’s”Cold” name reflects the weather at this time of year. However, it is also called the Long Night Moon because of its proximity to the winter solstice, Dec. 21. You’ll probably notice the morning starts darker now and night comes quickly.
For more info go to EarthSky, Time and Date and Old Farmer’s Almanac
Moon and Meteors
Full summer moon (J Jacobs)
Primarily known as the “Buck Moon” because male deer antlers are full grown, July’s full moon will be at peak illumination early morning July 21 (5:17 a.m. CT). But you will see it full at night on July 20 through July 22.
Other Native American July moon names also reflect animal behavior, nature and plants such as Salmon Moon, Berry Moon and Thunder Moon.
However, you don’t want a full moon if looking for the Delta Aquariids , often called Souther Aquariids from Comet 96P/Machholz when they fly overhead from July 18 to Aug. 21, 2024. They peak July 30 but are not numerous at 15 to 20 an hour and not bright. Also, they are more visible in the Southern Hemisphere and Southern US.
So be patient because the popular Perseids which zoom overhead late July to early September, will peak about Aug. 12 with more than 90 meteorites per hour.
For more information visit Buck Moon: Full Moon in July 2024 | Almanac.com, EarthSky Perseids and NASA.
The Lyrids are here
(Photo courtesy of NASA)
How to “catch” a falling star? Go outside somewhere without a distracting light, Dress for the weather and be patient.
One of the oldest known meteor showers, the Lyrids, will be peaking tomorrow on Earth Day. Best is to watch for them late Monday night and very early Tuesday morning.
They tend to average about 18 per hour but have been known to shoot out as many as 100 meteors per hour. However, the moon which is almost full, now, might make the meteors harder to catch.
These meteors are very bright but they move fast. Their velocity is 29 miles (47 kilometers) per second.
The Lyrids started about April 15 and will last until April 29 but the highest number will be seen shooting across the sky before dawn, April 23.
First reported by the Chinese in 687 BC, the Lyrids’ radiant is Constellation Lyra with C/1861 G1 Thatcher as its comet of origin.
For more information visit EarthSky, NASA Science and Space.
The Geminids
You heard that the Geminds, considered the best meteor shower of the year, peak Dec. 14 but that is early in the morning. They are worth staying up for or getting up early because you see about 100 meteors per hour.
The moon is not a factor and the mostly clear skies across the US should help.
But if you miss the time slot you can also watch on a free, livesteam hosted by Slooh Telescope and the Virtual Telescope project in Italy.
The Slooh robotic telescope network is hosting a free livestream of the Geminid meteor shower beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT) on Thursday (Dec. 14).
Slooh operates a network of telescopes in Chile and the Canary islands. The organization hosts livestream webcasts.
November brings the Taurids and Leonids plus an extra hour of sleep
It’s “fall back” time. Change clocks back an hour before you go to bed Nov. 4, 2023 or wait until morning Nov. 5, We say goodbye to Daylight Saving Time. at two a.m. on Sunday. Just remember: “Spring Ahead, Fall Back.”
Named for Taurus, the meteors shooting above now seem to emanate from that constellation. However, there is the Southern Taurids that started in September, go until Nov. 20 but peak Nov. 2-4 with a radiant at the southern part of the constellation. And, there are the Northern Taurids that peak Nov. 12-14 but have a radiant at the northern part.
The Taurids are from the comet Encke (pronounced “EN-key”), mentioned by 18th-century German astronomer Johann Franz Encke., Visit the Farmer’s Almanac and Taurid Meteor Showers for more information.
Next, are the Leonids whose parent is 55PTempel-Tuttle. They are among the fastest meteors traveling about 44 miles per second. They peak Nov. 17-18. They sometimes show up as impressive fireballs with colorful tails.
For more information visit Time and Date and EarthSky.
To see what’s up there in your sky, download “Sky Guide” and point phone to the sky.
October meteor showers
T
here are always meteors flying overhead. A good overview is at NASA.Gov So don’t worry if you miss one group in the news. You can watch for others that peak a short time later.
In October the Draconids peak Oct. 8-9 with best chance to catch theses somewhat sparce meteors shortly after nightfall. They are the dust particles from the Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Visit SPACE for a detailed graph of the radiation point.
But if you miss them, the more prolific Orionid meteor shower which can produce between 30 to 80 meteors pers hour, will peak about ten days later Oct. 20-21. They come from the debris of Comet 1P/Halley, (Halley’s Comet). For more information visit Time and Date.
Catch best meteor shower of this year
If you have clear skies and can watch after midnight, chances are good that you can catch way more than one “falling ” star this weekend.
The bright, prolific Perseids, will be shooting debris from the 109P/ Swift- Tuttle comet at 90 or more meteors per hour late at night, Aug. 11-13 and peaking Aug. the 13th. The moon is a waning crescent so shouldn’t be a light factor.
They already started in mid-July and continue until Sept 1 but this weekend is expected to be their biggest display.
They are fun to watch as they are fast (37 miles per second) and are streaks of light with long trains or “wakes.” Plus, they are usually colorful.
Best time to look is very, very early in the morning before the sun rises. They shoot all over the sky but the radiant (where they seem to come from) is the northern section of constellation Perseus which is higher in the sky shortly before dawn.
For more information and charts visit NASA and EarthSky
July and August meteor showers overlap
Sky watchers might catch a glimpse of the Capricornids. They are not abundant but if you see a bright slash across the sky it’s likely to be a Capricornid meteor. They peaked July 26 but are continuing through mid-August.
Look for the triangular Capricornus (Sea Goat) constellation for the Capricornid radiant.
Then be rewarded for looking up the beginning of August when the Delta Aquarids fly across the sky at about 10 per hour.
They peaked July 29 but continue through Aug. 19. However, you might miss some because they are not bright and don’t have a noticeable tail.
For their radiant look for Aquarius the Water Bearer (see a triangle of stars with a fourth star in the middle) between Capricornus and Pegasis’ Great Square.
Next, watch for the Perseids in mid-August. They are already shooting across the sky but will peak about Aug. 13-15 and continue through Aug. 24.
They come from the Swift-Tuttle also are abundant but more easily seen than the Delta Aquarids.
For more July-Aug. meteor shower info visit Space and the Old Farmer’s Almanac.