Earthsky Interviews
Private: Should I watch the meteor shower?
October 17, 2007 - Space
Credit: Photo © 2004 Alan Dyer
Absolutely you should watch … if the moon is out of the way, and if you can find a dark, wide open location for lying back comfortably and looking up.
If you have a dark moonless sky, you should give the shower a try.
How can you know the whereabouts of the moon? Try this “custom sunrise/sunset calendar”:http://www.sunrisesunset.com/custom_srss_calendar.asp. Be sure to check the _moon phases_ box, which will also give you moon rise/set times for your location. Most meteor showers are best after midnight. So, generally, you want a moonless sky sometime during the hours between midnight and dawn, when the greatest number of meteors will be flying.
Now, how about that dark sky? Here are links to finding U.S. “state parks”:http://www.stateparks.com/usa.html and “national parks”:http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm, to help you find a dark-sky location. You might want to check out a nearby park in advance, to be sure you have a wide-open view of the sky. Or maybe you know a country road? Farmer’s field?
In the past couple of decades, professional astronomers using big computers have been able to predict precise locations and times for the peaks of meteors showers. These predictions are great. They are interesting! But the reality is that, when a meteor shower occurs, the whole Earth passes through a meteor stream … a stream of particles in space left behind by a comet.
Do astronomers _really_ know where the thickest part of the debris stream is? Do they know where the stream might contain clumps of debris, which might result in amazing displays of “shooting stars” in our atmosphere?
Well … no. They don’t know everything. No one has ever mapped a meteor stream in detail. So, even though precise predictions of astronomers are useful for planning jaunts to far-flung parts of the globe, for the purpose of meteor-waching … the rest of us have a shot at seeing a grand display, too, from any given meteor shower. You just never know.
So by all means, get out and watch meteors showers, assuming you have a dark sky, and assuming the moon is absent from the sky after midnight. As a wise man once said, _meteor watching is a lot like fishing._ You go. You enjoy being in nature … the dark skies, the night air, the smells, the quiet. You enjoy being alone, or the company of your companions. Maybe you catch some meteors.
Clear skies!
“How high up are meteors?”:http://earthsky.org/faq/how-high-up-are-meteors
“How do astronomers predict meteor showers?”:http://earthsky.org/faq/meteor-shower-prediction