Look for sporadic meteors any clear evening
6 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight is Tuesday, Aug 19 2008
Astronomy is said to be the people’s science in part because anyone, regardless of training, can participate. There is so much you can observe in the sky even without a telescope, and of course meteors – also called shooting stars – are high on the list.
When will the next meteor shower occur? That depends on what you mean by meteor shower. If your shower has to be a recognized and recurring event, then there are fewer than 20 major showers meteors per year, and of those typically only two or three can be counted on for a good show.
But if you are willing to accept 5 or 6 meteors per hour, then the next meteor shower is tonight – or in general any night! That’s about the average that can be expected for “sporadic” meteors, meaning those that are not from any known meteor shower. They are just bits of debris entering our atmosphere from space.
The best time to look for these meteors is after local mid-night and when there is no moon in the sky. (I emphasize mid-night to mean halfway between sunset and the following sunrise, which because of Daylight Saving Time and geographical conditions is not the same as clock-time midnight). You can’t predict a direction in the sky for sporadic meteors, so just find a safe dark place with a view of as much of the sky as possible, and enjoy!
Tonights Sky?
hey, my name is diana hooper, my dad and I were watching the sky with our telescope & saw a planet( or star ) in the south and it looked like venus, it was about it’s size and color but I said venus is always in the west is it a other planet we know or is it a new planet not discoved?
hey, my name is diana hooper, my dad and I were watching the sky with our telescope & saw a planet( or star ) in the south and it looked like venus, it was about it’s size and color but I said venus is always in the west is it a other planet we know or is it a new planet not discoved?
hey, my name is diana hooper, my dad and I were watching the sky with our telescope & saw a planet( or star ) in the south and it looked like venus, it was about it’s size and color but I said venus is always in the west is it a other planet we know or is it a new planet not discoved?
Watching the sky on Tuesday morning(0530),I saw a star that moved on a slow glide. It didn’t have a tail, it just moved. It was as high as the other stars.
Has anyone ever saw this before?
Diana, most likely you saw Jupiter, which is the very bright star-like planet in the south to southeast at nightfall.
Shea, almost certainly you saw a satellite. However, without additional details, there is no way of knowing exactly. Things appear differently (or not at all) from different locations and different times, so when you report something in the future, be sure to add the time and your location (generally, just your city is good enough). Also, try to be a bit more specific — how long did you see it, in what direction was it moving and so on. Without specific information it is often difficult or impossible to identify things. But I am fairly confident that you saw a satellite, but I don’t know which one.