Andy’s Astronomy: Premier Summer Meteor Shower Approaching

The best meteor shower taking place during the summer months should begin Friday.

Early meteors from the Perseids Meteor Shower usually begin appearing on July 17 with the final meteors flashing across the sky on Aug. 24. Peak activity is forecast for the overnight hours of Aug. 12-13 with the shower producing about 30-50 meteors per hour. As with many meteor showers the best viewing time is shortly before dawn of Aug. 13.

The Perseids Meteor Shower is known to produce meteors with long, bright trails mixed with some fireballs. The shower comes from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

During peak activity of the Perseids Meteor Shower, a new moon will be occurring with the resulting dark sky. If skies are clear this could be a great meteor shower to watch. Those with an action camera should consider setting up the camera pointing at the sky to capture peak activity.

The next meteor shower will be the Southern Taurids that begin Sept. 20.

Historically, July has been a busy month for space exploration.

In 1966, Gemini 10 embarked on a 70-hour mission that included docking with an Agena target vehicle. Its mission successfully completed, Gemini 10 splashed down on July 21 and was recovered by the amphibious assault ship USS Guadalcanal. The capsule is currently on display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS. The Agena target vehicle, GATV 5005, remained in a decaying orbit and on Dec. 29, 1966, burned up while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the moon’s surface. He would be followed by Edwin Aldrin a few moments later. The Apollo 11 spacecraft module “Columbia” that carried the astronauts to the moon and back to Earth is currently on display in the Milestones of Flight exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. What became of the lunar module “Eagle” that carried the astronauts to the moon’s surface and back to Columbia remains unknown. It was abandoned in orbit around the moon.

In 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project proved successful with an American Apollo spacecraft docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft while in orbit.

Meteors can flash across the sky anytime, day or night, and they are spotted quite often. Particularly bright meteors are often referred to as fireballs.

On July 4, a fireball was reported by 11 people across Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The fireball was first reported at 3:05 am by a skywatcher in London, KY. It was seen as far north as London, KY, as far east as Santee, SC, as far south as Kathleen, GA, and as far west as Acworth, GA. The fireball appeared to travel from the south-southwest to the north-northeast.

One skywatcher reported hearing noise associated with the fireball and another reported seeing it fragment.

Anyone seeing a fireball is urged to report the sighting to https://amsmeteors.org

Going outside and looking at the night sky can be fun and educational for the entire family.

There are a number of free apps available to help identify stars and constellations, and some of the apps will show satellites.

Happy skywatching!