Should I watch the meteor shower?
December 12, 2004, during the Geminid meteor shower.
Credit: Photo © 2004 Alan Dyer
Hi! I’m from the eastern part of the states and I just wanted to know if I am able to witness the meteor shower this weekend? I don’t think I have ever able to witness anything from where I’m from. Is there a specific hemisphere or even a latitude/longitude to viewing the shower?
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. 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 and national parks, 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 do astronomers predict meteor showers?
7 Comments for Should I watch the meteor shower?
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Is that image real? Ive never seen so many stars on a night my whole life. Even when i went camping I didnt see that much. I sure wish I could see a sky like that.
Bob, yes, it looks real to me … ! You’ve got to find a dark place … maybe somewhere out west?
Deborah
can we view it here in asia?
Another location for a fantastic sky is in the “north woods” either in northern Minnesota or Canada. One night, what my husband and I saw was like an explosion of stars.
The most amazing sky I have ever witnessed was in northwest
Morocco.
We were camping near Tetouan and the stars were so abundant they seemed to almost touch each other!
I have traveled alot and have never, ever witnessed another sky
like that one!
the best sighting of heavenly bodies i have ever seen was the pam anderson playboy special
Back in my country, Cuba, the sky is almost always completely full of stars. I never did appreciate it, until long after I left. I haven’t see another sky full of stars like that ever again..but Brazil and Venezuela have a beautiful display every night..