A ritual of summer is gazing up at the night sky in the hopes of seeing meteors, also known as shooting stars, flash across the night sky. While the annual Perseid meteor shower usually gets the most attention, a better bet might be a couple of less-famous meteor showers that will peak on Tuesday night.
It’s summer and that means it’s shooting star time, but what should we do when the astronomical calendar aligns in ways that make it harder to see what is usually one of the best meteor showers of the year?
Don’t give up. Instead, get outside early. Days early.
Peak Perseid will happen August 12th, right around the full moon. All that light will make it hard to see the meteors.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing else going on overhead, though. If you can, head out tomorrow night and look up.
…the moon will be only about 25% full this week, when two meteor showers known as the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids reach their peak on the night of July 29 going into July 30.
And mark your calendars for next year’s Perseids, which should be excellent.
Whoops, I forgot to mention a recent solar system milestone. Two days ago, the Earth (that’s you and that’s me!) reached aphelion, or the point in our orbit at which we’re the farthest distance away from the Sun. That puts us at approximately (give or take the distance we’ve traveled in the past two days) about 3 million miles farther away from the sun than we are at perihelion.
This happens every year in early July, which might sound backward. If we’re farthest from the sun, shouldn’t it be cooler?
The answer lies in the fact that the Earth gets closer to and farther away from the Sun, but it’s also tilted.
Our planet spins at an angle — about 23.5 degrees — which means different parts of the globe receive more (or less) sunlight depending on the time of year. In July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, bringing longer days and higher sun angles that lead to more direct sunlight — all of which produce summer-like heat.
Since Kepler’s laws of motion dictate that celestial bodies orbit more slowly when farther from the sun, we are now moving at our slowest pace in orbit, slightly less than 18 miles per second (29 kilometers per second) compared to just over 19 at perihelion.
Given that, today might be a good time to relax, and enjoy the ride.
If you don’t track space news or astronomy news or science news, you may not have seen the announcement about the debut of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s recent drop of galactically cool imagery.
Even if you have seen the announcements, you may not know the story behind the observatory, its world-beating telescope, or the woman it’s named after. Here’s a quick orientation and of course, a look at some of that amazing imagery.
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time camera is expected to capture more information about the universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined.
What is the observatory observing from its perch on Cerro Pachón in Chile? All the things!
In just over 10 hours of test observations, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory has already captured millions of galaxies and Milky Way stars and thousands of asteroids. The imagery is a small preview of Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year scientific mission to explore and understand some of the Universe’s biggest mysteries.
It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of our universe.
Exactly who was Vera C. Rubin? Just a girl who dreamed of space, ignored the haters, and grew up to be a world-class scientist.
Vera Rubin is best known for presenting the first sound evidence of dark matter—an elusive substance that makes up more than 80 percent of our universe, yet doesn’t interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation, making it impossible to glimpse directly through a telescope. Her central scientific accomplishment involved discovering a mismatch between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion of galaxies. Rubin’s calculations offered a solution to this so-called “galaxy rotation problem” by suggesting that galaxies must contain at least 10 times as much mass as can be accounted for by the visible stars. This invisible mass constituted evidence for what astronomers had earlier proposed to be dark matter.
Rubin became a cosmological giant against the odds, illuminating a path for future female astronomers.
(And, I’d like to add, becoming a role model for kids of all shapes and sizes!) Want even more in-depth info about telescope and its capabilities?
In this exclusive interview, Professor Mario Jurić reveals how the Vera Rubin Observatory accidentally discovered 2,000 asteroids in just 10 hours while testing its capabilities on the distant Virgo Cluster—transforming humanity’s asteroid discovery rate from 20,000 per year globally to potentially over one million annually with a single telescope.
Short and very cool video of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae, compiling more than seven hours of observing time: Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas (Video-ES).
Space Surveyors is a fun, interactive game where YOU move the Rubin telescope around the sky. How many stars, galaxies, supernovae, comets, and asteroids can you catch in one minute, before the sun rises?
While players aren’t moving the *real* telescope around, it’s still fun to play. (I discovered 22 objects before the clouds rolled in and the sun came up. Bet you can do better:)
Adventure! Discovery! Secrets of the universe! This, kids, is why math is important.*
* I mean, sure, also to figure out if you have enough money to pay rent and still buy ice cream, but also this!
March’s full moon, known as the Worm Moon, will pass into Earth’s shadow on the night of March 13, or early on March 14, depending on the time zone, according to NASA. This eclipse will be visible from Earth’s Western Hemisphere.
While the peak of the eclipse will happen in the middle of the night (my time, at least), we should be able to see the event begin as the red(dish) moon rises around 7pm.
Why red? The color can vary based on the Moon’s path and the Earth’s atmosphere. The shade is measured on the Danjon Scale, which is a thing I hadn’t heard of but absolutely needed to know!
Earth’s atmosphere contains varying amounts of water (clouds, mist, precipitation) and solid particles (dust, organic debris, volcanic ash). This material filters and attenuates the sunlight before it’s refracted into the umbra. For instance, large or frequent volcanic eruptions dumping huge quantities of ash into the atmosphere are often followed by very dark, red eclipses for several years. Extensive cloud cover along Earth’s limb also tends to darken the eclipse by blocking sunlight.
Skywatchers will get a cosmic treat this week with a celestial gathering of planets.
A planetary alignment, or a “planet parade,” according to the internet, will grace our night sky just after dusk, according to SkyatNightMagazine. You can expect to see seven planets align Friday when Mercury joins Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus and Saturn.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars will be visible to the naked eye, but Saturn will be harder to spot low on the horizon, and you’ll need a telescope for Uranus and Neptune. Still, “every other world in our solar system will be visible among the stars at the same time — if you know where to look.”
“You really only have a few minutes after sunset to catch them before they drop below the horizon. After that, you’ll still be able to see Venus, Jupiter, and Mars clearly for a much longer time,” Dr Bloomer added.
I don’t have a telescope, and we often can’t see this kind of event because of city lights.
On Feb. 18, 1930, the young astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, considered for decades a planet and “demoted” to dwarf planet status in 2008.
A few weeks later, an 11-year old girl named Venetia Burney suggested the name Pluto because of its connection to the god of the cold dark underworld.
This in-depth discussion of Pluto covers all sorts of interesting facts, including details of its discovery, how the New Horizons spacecraft gave us a much more detailed picture, and more. (Did you know that Pluto is half the size of the Moon but has five moons of its own? And someone who weighs 180 pounds on Earth would weigh 11 pounds on Pluto.)
It takes Pluto slightly over 248 Earth years to orbit the sun, which means that on March 23, 2178, one Plutonian year will have elapsed since the dwarf planet was first spotted, on Feb. 18, 1930.
Here’s a cool animation showing our increasingly detailed understanding of Pluto:
The moon will be officially full at 8:53 a.m. EST on Wednesday (Feb. 12) and will be best seen at dusk at the moment of moonrise where you are. It will be in the constellation Leo, hanging above the bright star Regulus.
And since we’re talking storms, if you’ve ever wondered why some bring snow while others bring sleet or freezing rain, check this out: Severe Weather 101: Winter Weather Types.
We may not be able to see the moon tonight, if the storm is as dramatic as predicted, but it’s nice to know it’s up there!
Welcome to the new year! Here’s what you can expect from space in 2025 (including a new way of studying the solar corona that looks enough like the Millennium Falcon to be extra fun):
After a spectacular 2024, which featured a year of wonder in the skies, including a total solar eclipse and rare sightings of the northern lights, 2025 is set to bring even more astronomical events.
“At 4:20 a.m. EST, the solstice marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere,” NASA says on its website.
That means from now until the end of June, each day will get a little bit longer — and brighter…
Read the full article for some fun facts on the solstice, plus a link to solstice-themed music, food and writing, including work by beloved children’s author Susan Cooper (my brother and I loved The Dark Is Rising).
Today is also the official start of winter, and the temperature is dropping like a rock in a gravity well. Stay warm, it just gets brighter from here!
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I think there’s a druid in there somewhere. Photo by Dyana Wing So on Unsplash
If you happen to live in a place that will have clear skies tonight (or tomorrow), rejoice! It is time for that highlight of the annual meteor shower cycle, the Geminids.
The Geminids, which are bright and have a yellow hue, are considered one of the best and most reliable annual meteor showers, when at least 120 meteors are usually seen per hour during its peak, NASA says.
The Geminid meteor shower peaks in the middle of December, with the most activity this year expected late Friday and into early Saturday, according to NASA.
Alas, we expect snow and clouds here tonight, but I’m happy knowing that you, dear reader, might have a chance to see one of the most spectacular shows in the solar system.
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