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The Beginning of Meteor Season

© Gregg Pasterick

Those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I a) ultimately majored in Astronomy in college, and b) learned that I was not an astronomer, but a poet. Equations just don't work in dreams. Metaphors are only marginally useful in Quantum Mechanics.

And you also know that c) most of all the real astronomy I did - and there wasn't that much - was in the form of meteor astronomy. Even then, it often included music, lying about, moon-eyed, with girlfriends, laughing it up with friends, or sharing the stars with an occasional stranger, a passer-by who would stop and ask what we were doing and marvel as the notion of it all.

I mention all this now because it is July, and for me, July always meant the beginning of meteor season. During July, it is possible to see more meteors than during August, when the Perseids peak. But it takes a lot of hours out under clear, dark skies to pull it off. All these meteors are the result of a handful of meteor showers: the Piscis-Austrinids, the North and South Delta Aquarids, the South Iota Aquarids, the Alpha Capricornids, and, of course, the Perseids.

While I enjoyed the challenge of plotting these many meteors from these several showers, I would never expect anyone else to do the same. Separating the North Delta Aquarids from the South Delta Aquarids from the Alpha Capricornids takes a keen eye, and can be a chore. No, I would prefer you just find a comfy piece of ground well away from the glare of city lights where you can lie back and simply watch. If you've never done this, you are in for a surprise. Not all meteors are created equal, but you'll have to see it to believe it.

This year, the Full Moon falls on July 2 and again on the 31st, so save your strength for the dark nights in between: before moonrise from about the 9th through the New Moon on the 17th, and after moonset from then until late in the month (yeah, I know, this means only an hour or two of dark skies before dawn, but you never what surprises might be lurking out there, during the wee hours).

There are a few planetary odds and ends during July as well. Venus, now a beacon in the predawn sky, passes about 1⁰ north of red Aldebaran on the 5th, while Mars is just 0.36⁰ SSW of the center of the Beehive Cluster. On the 8th Mercury right through the center of the Beehive Cluster, and then 0.16⁰ NNE of Mars on the 11th. The fleet-footed planet passes 1.3⁰ SSW of Regulus on the 25th, and reaches Greatest Elongation East on the 27th.

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