Editor’s note: WRGB CBS News 6 reported Aug. 10 on the celestial event at the link below.
https://cbs6albany.com/weather/weather-extra/weathers-impact-on-viewing-this-weekends-peak-of-the-perseid-meteors-capital-region
Professor Monda also talked with WGY Radio News Radio’s Joe Gallagher on Aug. 12 about the anticipated meteor shower and the Blue Moon. The podcast can be accessed at https://wgy.iheart.com/featured/joe-gallagher/tab/podcasts/.
Perseid meteor shower will reach upstate peak this weekend
A near-moonless sky will help enhance viewing in 2023
Daniel Roberts / Times Union / Aug. 9. 2023
The summer’s most popular meteor shower has begun, and 2023 will be an excellent year to watch the show.
The Perseids became active on July 17 and last until Aug. 24. However, peak viewing for Northeast sky watchers — including the Capital Region and Hudson Valley — will be this weekend, according to Hudson Valley Community College Assistant Professor Richard Monda.
Moonlight will not interfere with the annual “shooting stars” event for most of the night Saturday, Aug. 12, and Sunday, Aug. 13. Dark skies, away from light pollution, and clear weather are the ideal conditions for viewing. Meteorologists are expecting partly cloudy weather for the weekend.
More about the Perseids from Monda:
“Meteors are caused by icy particles that have been released from the surface of a comet, in particular for the Perseids, Comet Swift-Tuttle. This material falls behind in the comet’s path and vaporizes as these fragments plow into the Earth’s atmosphere at over 100,000 miles per hour. Friction with the atmosphere heats the surrounding air hot enough to glow and we see this momentary incandescent trail of light as a ‘shooting star’ in the sky.
“Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors seem to originate called the radiant point. For the August meteor shower, the radiant point is in the constellation of Perseus. This star pattern rises over the northeastern horizon during evening twilight and is fully above the horizon by 11 p.m.”
Monda recommends a reclining lawn chair, patience and a gaze about halfway up the sky. Monda has been a member of Hudson Valley Community College’s biology, chemistry and physics department since 2001 and served as director of the Schenectady Museum Planetarium for 10 years.
The Perseids can produce more than 60 meteors every hour through the entire sky. With a fixed gaze in one area of the sky, you can expect to see on average a meteor streak across the sky every few minutes — that’s a lot of wishes.
Source: Sky and Telescope Magazine