Category Archives: Meteor Showers

A number of meteors that appear to radiate from one point in the sky at a particular date each year, due to the earth’s regularly passing through a field of particles at that position in its orbit. Meteor showers are named after the constellation in which the radiant is situated, e.g., the Perseids.

Meteor Showers

Observing Meteors

The 2026 Perseid meteor shower is setting up to be one of the most memorable sky events in years, delivering its peak on the night of Wednesday, August 12 into the early hours of August 13 beneath perfectly dark new moon skies. With moonlight completely out of the picture, conditions will be ideal for seeing dozens of meteors each hour (weather permitting) and potentially well over a hundred, including frequent bright fireballs that make the Perseids so popular. The most active period will come after midnight and toward dawn on August 13, when Earth is plowing headfirst into the debris stream left behind by Comet Swift Tuttle. Adding an extraordinary twist to an already rare setup, the peak coincides with a total solar eclipse on August 12, 2026, visible from parts of Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, raising the fascinating possibility of spotting Perseid meteors even during daylight. With so much working in its favor, this shower offers a perfect opportunity to slow down, look up, and experience one of the night sky’s most accessible and awe inspiring spectacles, making it an ideal moment to talk about how to properly observe and enjoy a meteor shower.

Watching a meteor shower is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to experience astronomy, especially for casual or amateur sky watchers. The first step is choosing the right shower to observe. Major annual showers such as the previously mentioned Perseids in August, Geminids in December, and Quadrantids in January tend to produce the most meteors and are the best options for beginners. When selecting a date, it helps to check not only the predicted peak but also the Moon phase, since bright moonlight can wash out fainter streaks. Dark skies matter more than perfect timing, so choosing a clear night with minimal light pollution will greatly improve the experience.

When it is time to observe, comfort and patience make a big difference. Find a location away from city lights with a wide, open view of the sky, such as a rural area or state park. Allow about twenty to thirty minutes for your eyes to fully adapt to the darkness, and try to avoid looking at bright phone screens or car headlights. The best viewing hours are usually after midnight through dawn, when your part of Earth is rotating into the stream of debris that causes the meteors. Instead of staring directly at the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate, it is better to scan darker areas of the sky, where longer and more dramatic streaks are often visible.

One of the most surprising facts for new observers is how small most meteors actually are. The majority are caused by particles no larger than grains of sand or small pebbles. Despite their tiny size, they strike Earth’s atmosphere at extraordinary speeds, often tens of thousands of miles per hour. That speed compresses and heats the air in front of the particle, causing it to glow brightly for a brief moment. The streak of light you see is mainly energized air rather than the space rock itself burning up.

Occasionally, you may be lucky enough to see a much brighter event known as a fireball or bolide. These are caused by larger fragments and can be bright enough to cast shadows or be seen even from light polluted areas. Bolides often flare, fragment, or change color as they break apart, and they sometimes leave behind glowing trails that linger in the sky. These lingering trails, called meteor trains, can last from several seconds to a few minutes and slowly twist and distort as high altitude winds reshape them. Watching a meteor train fade and evolve can be just as memorable as the meteor that created it.

One of the great advantages of meteor watching is that no special equipment is required. In fact, binoculars and telescopes are not recommended because they limit how much of the sky you can see. A reclining chair or blanket, warm clothing, and a little patience are all you really need. A red flashlight can be useful for checking charts or adjusting settings without ruining night vision. If you choose to try to photograph meteors a basic DSLR or mirrorless camera on a tripod with wide-angle lens and long exposures can capture meteors, but photography is completely optional.

It is also important to set realistic expectations. Even during strong meteor showers, meteors do not appear continuously. You may see several in quick succession followed by long quiet periods. Many meteors will be faint, while only a few will be bright fireballs. Approaching meteor watching as a relaxed, almost meditative experience makes it far more enjoyable. Each brief streak represents ancient debris shed by a comet or asteroid, traveling through space for thousands or even millions of years before ending its journey in a split second of light. With a little preparation and patience, meteor showers offer a simple and powerful connection to the dynamic nature of our solar system.

Meteor Shower Observing Checklist

• Pick a major shower and check the Moon phase
• Find a dark spot away from city lights
• Go out after midnight for best rates
• Let your eyes adapt for 20–30 minutes
• Avoid bright screens or use a red light
• Look away from the radiant and scan the sky
• No gear needed, use a chair or blanket
• Dress warm and be patient

Clear skies,

Scott

Meteor Showers

A Possible Meteor Storm Monday?

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Bright meteor captured with a GoPro during a nightlapse in August 2021 at Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Tau Herculids meteor shower produced by its parent comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, or SW3 peaks this Monday night for those in the DFW area. Discovered in 1930 SW3 orbits the sun every 5.4 years.  It’s not a bright comet but it’s an interesting one at the moment given it’s potential for a meteor storm Monday.

In 1995, astronomers watched as this comet began to fracture and litter its orbit with a cocktail of rock, dust and ice debris. It’s fragments from this 1995 event as well as debris streams from 1897 and 1892 that COULD produce a meteor storm late Monday evening May 30, 2022.  This is by no means a done deal. Several pieces of data point toward a possible meteor outburst and hope is high but we cannot be sure whether or not this will actually happen. If it does happen you’re going to want to see this for sure.

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Meteor Showers, Observing, Planets

August’s Gas Giants & Meteor Shower

As August approaches so do the dog days of summer. This time last year Comet NEOWISE was blowing our socks off and cyberspace was a buzz as thousands posted their “dirty snowball” images . Fortunately for us northern hemisphere dwellers as the days heat up so do a few celestial objects and events that are not to be missed. This makes August a perfect time to dust off the binoculars, find a dark sky, set up a telescope and enjoy Jupiter and Saturn as well as the Perseid meteor shower.

Jupiter & Saturn Conjunction December 20, 2020.

Up first is the ringed planet Saturn. You may recall back in December 2020 that Jupiter and Saturn cozied up to each other in the evening sky. Well the pair has been slowly separating as viewed from our vantage point but they’re still relatively close to each other. You can watch Jupiter rise about 30-40 minutes after Saturn in the southeast just after dark.
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Meteor Showers

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

The 2016 edition of the Perseid Meteor Shower should be a good one. In most years the meteor shower produces 60 to 120 meteors per hour as seen under dark sky conditions but this year the Earth will be plowing through a more dense stream of cometary debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. On the morning of Friday, August 12th the shower peaks with up to 200 meteors per hour predicted.  NASA’s video below explains the Perseid meteor shower as well as other astro highlights for the month.

As the constellation Perseus rises in the northeast the Moon will be setting in the southwest at about 1:30 a.m. CDT here in the DFW area.  This will be the best time to begin watching for meteors.  Choose a location away from city lights. Use a reclining lawn chair so you and lean back and encompass as much of the night sky as possible. It’s not necessary to focus your gaze on the constellation Perseus.  All the meteors you see will appear to originate from this constellation if you were to trace them back to that point but you will be able to see meteors all over the sky. If you see a meteor that does not appear to trace back to Perseus in the northeast sky then you know you’ve seen a “sporadic” meteor (one not related to the current meteor shower).

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Meteor Showers

May-Be a New Meteor Shower in May? The Camelopardalids!

Sky watchers will be out in force early Saturday morning May 24th looking for meteors appearing from the northern part of the sky. The new shower known as the Camelopardalids have the potential to be the biggest meteor shower event this year with up to 200 meteors per hour.

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Meteor Showers

Perseid meteor shower to peak on Monday morning, August 12th

Meteor StormThis years Perseid meteor shower should be a good one. I encourage you to get out and bag some Perseid meteors. Perseids come from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle and are an annual favorite for many sky observers. The Moon should be setting just as the shower starts picking up. Look for meteors any time after dark on the nights of August 11, 12 and 13. The shower actually peaks on the night of August 12th. For best results find a dark sky away from city lights and relax on a reclining lawn chair. Keep your gaze on the starry sky and wait. The shower’s radiant located near the Double Cluster in Perseus will clear the horizon an hour or so before midnight but you’ll spot meteors prior to that happening. The meteor rate should pick up as the night goes on until they reach 50 to 100 per hour. This normally will occur in the early morning hours.

You can look for “earthgrazers” right after dark and until 10 p.m. or so. Earthgrazers are meteors that skim the top of Earth’s atmosphere like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond. They appear when the radiant of a meteor shower is near the horizon, spewing meteoroids not down, but horizontally overhead. They are rare and usually speculator to see as they can be very long lived, starting in the eastern sky and slowly crossing the zenith and fading of in the western sky. You’ll know it if you spot an earthgrazer! I saw three in one night during the peak of the Perseids a decade ago and still remember it quite well.

Here are some fun things to do while watching a meteor shower. 1) Count the number of meteors you see and compare your numbers with your fellow meteor watchers. 2) Trace the meteor back to where it originated in the sky. If it points back to the constellation Perseus then you know you saw a Perseid. If it doesn’t then you probably saw a “sporadic” meteor (one not associated with the current shower) 3) Try capturing images of some of the brighter meteors by using a tripod mounted camera with wide field lens. Try long exposures of several minutes with fast focal ratios and shoot different parts of the sky. You might catch a brilliant fireball but if not you’ll have some cool star trail shots showing the different colors (temperatures) of the stars.

Good luck and clear skies!

Scott

Meteor Showers

2013 Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

The 2013 Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks tomorrow morning, Sunday May 5th. The best time to view the sky is that couple of hours prior to dawn. The Eta Aquarids can produce up to 20 to 40 meteors per hour. This shower favors the southern hemisphere slightly but on a good year from the southern portion of the U.S. you might see about 10 to 15 meteors per hour.

This year is predicted to be a good year as the moonlight from the waning crescent moon shouldn’t cause to much trouble. The Eta Aquarid meteors are swift-moving and seasoned sky watchers know to look for persistent trains from the brighter ones.

The graphic above shows the sky looking east at 5 a.m. on Sunday May 5, 2013. The red Telrad bulls-eye is the Eta Aquarid shower’s radiant  The radiant is that point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate from but you do not have to look only at the radiant to see the meteors. In fact, looking in that general direction if the sky a better choice.

How to bag the most meteors? I recommend finding a dark sky, a friend, don’t forget the coffee, a couple of lawn chairs that will allow you to lay back and take in as much sky as possible and enjoy the celestial show. Happy hunting!