Get ready! The fully-dark to pre-dawn hours of the Aug. 12-13 are the absolute best times to go Perseid meteor shower hunting, although the moon will be full which means only the brightest meteors will be visible. Astronomers are predicting a rate of as many as one per minute between midnight and the early morning. The comet debris from Swift/Tuttle is good about outbursts of meteors and fireballs.
Arrange a reclining lawn chair so that you are able to see the sky from Cassiopeia in the NE to due E and just wait to see what passes overhead. I hope we are pleasantly surprised at what occurs. The “falling stars” will appear to come from the constellation known as Perseus, he of Medusa’s nemesis fame. They will radiate out from a point in space near Cassiopeia, the W shaped pattern in the NE at full dark. Invite a few friends or family members out to join you and then you increase your counts of the number of meteorites spotted, unless you decide to watch lightning bugs.
Regular readers may remember that meteors are particles of dust left by comets as they wend their way through the solar system, swing around the sun and head back out into deep reaches of space. The earth passes through the debris and the air around it, superheated, begins to glow, and we think it is a star falling out of the sky. These particles are mostly the size of a grain of sand, but the heated atmosphere makes them seem far larger. Look for a variety of colors and brightness. It is best to be in a good dark place; the less light pollution the more meteors will be visible. It almost makes one wish for a power outage. Too bad PUB and the other power sources are so darned reliable.
While you are watching the area around Cassiopeia you may notice one star appears brighter than it did another night. Some interesting things are happening with Rho Cassiopeia as far as the changing apparent brightness of this star. Astronomers are watching it with a great deal of interest. Of course, with all the street lights around you probably don’t even get to see it, but it is interesting to know that marvelous things are happening even if we don’t see them.
While you are out looking up, look for the Summer Triangle asterism nearly overhead and locate Cygnus, the Swan. Although this constellation looks more like a cross or a sword than a swan, it is still fun to locate. Cygnus lies directly along the Milky Way in one of the arms known as Cygnus. When you look into the area you are looking at the Milky Way edge-on. The center is where Sagittarius and Scorpius are. If your viewing location is dark, you may be able to discern an ethereal glow from them to the zenith and on over to the north; that will probably be the Milky Way unless a spotlight has been set up to bring attention to a new business in the area.
According to legend, the Swan is continually diving into the “Western Sea” attempting to rescue his friend Phaethon who fell from Apollo’s chariot of the Sun while racing across the sky and drowned in the sea. Sad story; beautiful constellation.
There seems to be a growing interest in the star-gazing at Resaca de la Palma, with close to 500 persons attending the event held there a few weeks ago sponsored by the South Texas Astronomical Society. This group has a Facebook page and shares astronomical information specifically for work going on with the UTRGV Christina Torres Memorial Observatory. The group also has activities associated with the Lunadas held at the Mitte Cultural District in Brownsville and at the two Brownsville public libraries.
Until next week, KLU.
