Lyrid Meteor Shower 2012

Meteor Showers occur throughout the year, and a bright Moon can wash out the view, so when we have ideal conditions for a shower, it's a good idea to take a few minutes and try to see it. Tonight, the Lyrid Meteor Shower reaches its peak, and we will have no moonlight to interfere.

The Lyrids are named after the tiny constellation Lyra, and although it is a small constellation it features the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, Vega. The constellation is the 'radiant' of the meteor shower, meaning that the meteors appear to emanate from this area of the night sky. Lyra rises before midnight and as it climbs higher in the sky during the late night into the early morning, more and more Lyrids will be visible.

As is the case with all meteor showers, you want to dress warmly, find a relaxing spot in a dark area (mountains, backyard, beach), be sure you have a wide view to the night sky, and have some patience. Observing is good with a friend or two, since you might see one meteor in a part of the sky where your friend is not looking, or vice versa.

I wish you dark skies and a pleasant night observing.

Image courtesy of Astronomy.com.

The Summer Triangle

One of the brightest objects in the nighttime sky each summer is called the Summer Triangle. Rather than being a single constellation, the Summer Triangle is an "asterism," a grouping of stars that make an interesting pattern but are not themselves a single constellation. The Summer Triangle is, as advertised, a very distinctive triangle of three very bright stars that form a 30-60 right triangle. The three bright stars are Vega, Deneb and Altair. With three stars at magnitude 0 or 1, the Summer Triangle shines through even light-polluted city skies.

If you have darker skies, the Summer Triangle is a quick guidepost to locating some of the most interesting objects you can see with binoculars or a telescope in the Milky Way. The image to the right is taken from the website of the Great Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society. I like their web images because they present a very easy-to-follow guide to the most interesting objects in the part of the Milky Way that passes through the Summer Triangle, including double stars, nebulae, star clusters and the patterns of the three constellations that include the three bright stars of the Summer Triangle: Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus. For another description of the same objects, try this page from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

Use your binoculars or a telescope - even if you are in a big city - and see how much of these constellations you can identify and how many of the interesting objects you can find lurking in their midst.