Tag: #MeteorShower

Lyrids Shooting Stars Peak Tonight

Tonight until dawn, the Lyrids reach their peak. The Lyrids can produce up to 18 meteors per hour at the peak, with occasional fireballs, producing up to 100 shooting stars an hour.

Make sure you are warm. Find a place with no or minimal light pollution, get comfortable and allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness. Be prepared to wait. Look to the North East. Also high in the Eastern sky until dawn – by where the meteors are coming from – is the bright star Vega, the brightest star in the constellation of Lyra.

The annual meteor shower is derived from particles dropped by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher) and will continue until the end of the month. The meteors come from comets’ debris exploding once it enter Earth’s atmosphere. Their disintegration causes the bright, fiery streaks across our sky.

The waxing gibbous moon will certainly not make it easy this year but as the moon sets at 5am – there will be just 45 minutes of darkness before dawn.

#Broadwindsor,#Burstock,#Blackdown,#Hursey,#Kittwhistle,#Seaborough,#Drimpton,#Dorset,#WestDorset,#Lyrids,#MeteorShower,#LookUp,#StarryStarrynight,#BeWarm,#BeSafe,#StaySafe

Draconids & Orionids Meteor Showers This Month

Named after Draco, the dragon constellation, the Draconid meteor shower is at its peak tonight and tomorrow evening.  Rather than wait until the wee small hours of the night, the Draconids are best seen in the evening, after nightfall, looking North. You do have to be patient as there are only about 5 per hour.

OrionFar more illuminating are the Orionids which have already begun but reach their peak on 20th/21st October. The meteors from the Orionids are dust and debris left behind by Halley’s Comet. Orion is a relatively easy constellation to find in our autumn and winter skies – it is in the Southeast at early evening and bright and high in the South by mid-to-late evening. It is also easily recognisable by the three bright stars that form the “belt of Orion,” The meteor shower appears to come from the constellation of Orion but they can be seen in the sky from all directions, without the need for binoculars or a telescope. The Moon will just be in the first quarter so the bright shower will be clearer to see. The Orionids are one of the most reliable meteor showers each year. One can usually see about 25 per hour.
All, of course, is weather dependant!

#Broadwindsor,#WestDorset,#Dorset,#MeteorShower,#Draconids,#Orionids,#TwinkleTwinkleLittleStar,#LookUp,#SocialDistancing,#BeKind,#StaySafe