We have two big astronomical events coming up in the next two weeks.
On the night of August 12th, the Perseid meteor shower peaks. There is an unusual amount of garbage information on the Internet about this year's shower. I've seen a crazy claim about the shower making day out of night, and being the best in 96 years. More accurately, and even stranger, I've seen a claim that there's this claim, without actually being able to find the claim... On the other hand, I've seen this year's shower downplayed to not worth seeing because the moon is in the wrong phase.
Well, here's what is true. The Perseids, at their average peak, produce about 50 meteors per hour seen from a dark location. At my house, maybe 30 per hour at the peak. The peak occurs around 3am on August 13th, and it is true that the Moon will be very large and very bright at that time, so staying up for the peak would be a waste of effort. HOWEVER, every year that I've watched the Perseids I've started at about 8:30-9pm, and very rarely have I stayed up for the peak, but the shower always has produced bright meteors between 9 and 11pm. On a typical year, without clouds, I've counted 30 to 40 in those few hours. On this August 12th, the nasty old Moon rises at 11pm, and really won't start having a bad impact until about 11:30. I plan on being outside, and you should too. Unless, of course, its raining...
Meanwhile, we are also approaching August 21st, the date of the first total solar eclipse visible in America since 1984. I am not traveling to see the total eclipse (nearest location would be in Kentucky), though I think some of my former students are planning to take this trip. My plan is to take the day off (if it isn't, you know, raining) and try to photograph this event, which will be a partial eclipse here in Connecticut. For us, the event starts at 1:30, peaks at 2:45, and ends at 4pm. At maximum, about 75% of the sun will be blocked.
If you plan on viewing this eclipse, I can't emphasize enough that unless you have special filters that you KNOW are safe (and not just because you bought them from some unknown vendor on Amazon), you should definitely NOT try looking directly at the Sun. Yes, everyone is telling everyone this, but you know what? For once they are RIGHT. Nothing special about eclipse light mind you, this is always a very bad idea. And good grief, don't go pointing a telescope or binoculars at the sun, unless you are projecting the image on a piece of cardboard, and you KNOW that the telescope or binoculars are of good quality and won't burn in your hands. It's happened. I've done it.
So, here is the safe way to experience this eclipse if you don't have a telescope or binoculars you can trust for projecting an image. You need two pieces of thin cardboard - like card stock. In the first, take a pin and make a small round hole. Hold the first with the hole pointed toward the sun. Put the second in the shadow of the first, and when you are properly aligned to the sun, you will see an image of the sun on the second card. Basically, a pinhole camera. Simple, functional enough for an eclipse, and completely safe.
Feel free to send me notes on how both events work out for you! Hope to see you all again either in an upcoming class, or elsewhere in the future.
So.