Observing Meteor Showers

by Elizabeth Clarke on 30 December 2011

Meteor watching is one of the easiest forms of astronomy and fortunately contrary to what you might think is available all year long. At least half a dozen are visible per hour per night, these are called sporadic or random meteors. However, there are times of the year when there are large amounts of meteors. This picture was taken during the Draconide shower – coming from Draco the Dragon constellation.

It is best to start this kind of astronomy around midnight as this is when the meteors will be high above the horizon. Meteor showers are said to have a radiant this means the point at which they appear to come from. For example, the Perseid meteor shower surprisingly comes from the constellation Perseus. You need to give your eyes about 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness and then you should be set to pick them out the sky. Shooting stars are one of the most exciting and spectacular forms of astronomy – great to do with groups of friends.

Meteor Showers in 2012

I remember my very first shooting star a dazzling streak of light across the sky – I was ten years old waiting outside in the cold for my parents to pack the car to travel to cornwall. I don’t remember my wish but i do remember been in awe of the event.

Several times a year Earth encounters a stream of debris from passing comets results in a meteor shower.

A shower acquires its name from the radiant or the common point where the meteors come from this is called the radiant. We have already mentioned August’s well known Perseid shower. There is one notable exception to this rule, Quadrantid. The higher a showers radiant the more meteors are produces and generally the more spectacular the event.

Meteors peak just before dawn so staying up all night is a must with this kind of astronomy.  The showers have peak dates and are typically active for several nights before and after this date. The best observations are made when the Moon is not causing obstruction with its moonlight and you are in an area with low light pollution.

* Moonlight will wash out fainter meteors in these showers. Table Credit: Sky & Telescope. 

Meteor Shower List Below – Credit Sky & Telescope: J. Kelly Beatty.

January 4: The Quadrantids

Although a waxing gibbous Moon will be competition for this year’s “Quads,” it will set by about 3 a.m., providing a few dark hours for meteor watching before dawn. The peak for this short, sharp shower favors North Americans, especially in the eastern half, where viewers can expect to see 100 meteors per hour. Unlike most other showers, there’s practically no activity on the days just before or after the Quadrantids’ maximum. This shower’s radiant is in northern Boötes, which rises in the northeast about 1 a.m. and climbs higher hour by hour.

April 22: The Lyrids

Although this isn’t one of the year’s strongest showers, the Moon is new when the Lyrids peak. Count on seeing roughly a dozen or so meteors per hour emanating from a radiant near the Hercules-Lyra border. As with the Quadrantids, this shower puts on a fairly brief performance — one that this year favors observers across North America, especially those on the East Coast.

May 5: The Eta Aquarids

This shower is spawned by none other than Halley’s Comet. It’s typically a good one for Northern and Southern Hemisphere observers, though the radiant, in the Water Jar of Aquarius, rises late for northerners. This year strong light from a full Moon will wash out most of them, so don’t expect to see more than 20 or so per hour.

June 27: The Boötids

Ordinarily observers wouldn’t expect much from either of the Boötid displays (there’s another weak one in January). This shower’s parent comet has an orbit outside Earth’s that comes no closer than 0.24 astronomical unit, but some modest outbursts have been noted that were likely due to dust ejected during the 19th century. So you might catch one or two dozen Boötids per hour during this year’s maximum. The waning crescent Moon won’t be a problem, and the shower’s radiant has a declination of +48° — placing it above the horizon almost all night for mid-northern observers.

July 28: The Delta Aquarids

Conversely, the Aquarid showers are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere because their radiant is below the celestial equator. Light from a waxing gibbous Moon will be a factor and probably wash out many of the predicted 20 or so Delta Aquarids per hour.

August 12: The Perseids

The Perseid shower is a popular display because it offers up to 60 an hour under a summer sky. Showtime usually begins as soon as the radiant (near the Double Cluster in Perseus) clears the horizon, an hour or so before midnight, and it climbs higher in the sky throughout the night. Unlike last year’s display, which was spoiled by a full Moon, there’ll be only a waning crescent hanging around during this year’s maximum. The Perseids’ parent comet is 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

October 21: The Orionids

This is another modest shower due to Halley’s Comet. A waxing crescent Moon won’t be a problem in 2012, so watch for 10 to 15 hourly meteors that stream from the shower’s radiant, located above Orion’s bright reddish star Betelgeuse.

Information taken from Sky and Telescope: Author of Meteor shower lists J. Kelly Beatty.

November 17: The Leonids

Typically the Leonid shower is a weak display, with fewer than a dozen meteors per hour radiating from Leo’s Sickle. But the parent comet, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, tends to create narrow concentrated streams that produced brief but prodigious displays in the late 1990s, when it last swung through perihelion. Since then the shower’s activity has varied from year to year, but despite moonless skies the 2012 edition is unlikely to deliver much beyond its usual trickle.

December 14: The Geminids

With an average of 100 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Castor, this end-of-the-calendar shower is usually one of the year’s best. Each year the Geminids reach their maximum just four days later in the lunar cycle than the Perseids do. So, for this year’s performance, the Moon will be new. Better still, you don’t have to stay up until the wee hours to see them — at mid-northern latitudes, the radiant is well up in the sky by 9 p.m. Geminid meteors come from 3200 Phaethon, an asteroid discovered in 1983.