Summer stargazing goes out with a bang in August with the best meteor shower of the year.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Aug. 12 and 13 with up to 100 shooting stars per hour in ideal viewing locations far from city lights, like the Catskills and Adirondacks. City dwellers can expect about half that rate in areas like Floyd Bennett Field and city beaches. The peak coincides with a new moon, when skies are the darkest and best for stargazing.
“The Perseids never fail to please,” said Bart Fried, a member of the American Astronomical Society. “You're pretty much guaranteed to see some bright meteors and a good deal of them this year.”
But that’s not all. A partial solar eclipse will take place this month, followed by a nearly full lunar eclipse two weeks later. As summer comes to a close, it’s a good time to enjoy the seasonal constellations like Scorpius.
“ August is the winning month of the summer for observing,” said Jackie Faherty, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. “June and July build up, but August really is your month.”
The partial solar eclipse in New York City will be about 10%. While it might not seem like much, the sight of the moon taking a small bite of the sun will be noticeable. The climax of the event will take place just before 2 p.m. on Aug. 12. Get ready to dust off your eclipse viewing glasses.
For the full effect, eclipse chasers will have to get on a plane and go to Iceland, Spain, northern Russia, Portugal or Greenland. The musician Bjork is hosting an all-day rave just outside of Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik to celebrate the eclipse.
“From New York City, we get a pretty good partial solar eclipse. A very good chunk of the sun will be taken out by the moon,” Fried said. “Obviously, it's nothing like a total eclipse, but you really get the feeling that the moon is passing, partially in front of the sun.”
The consolation prize for New Yorkers will come a couple of weeks later on Aug. 27, when New Yorkers will be treated to a 96% lunar eclipse. At 10:33 p.m., the eclipse will begin and reach its maximum just after midnight, when the moon is in the Earth’s shadow. The moon will turn a dramatic blood red. The eclipse will be over just before 2 a.m. No special glasses are needed, just clear skies. So check the weather forecast.
”Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses chase each other because of the positioning of the Earth and the moon,” Faherty said.
But the marquee astronomical event in August is the dazzling Perseid meteors. The shooting stars, which are yellow-white but can also have a greenish tint, travel more than 133,000 miles per hour. The Perseids are also known for producing fireballs, which are super bright meteors.
Ideal spots for spotting shooting stars include rooftops, waterfronts, cemeteries, golf courses and areas of parks with unobstructed views of the heavens. The Amateur Astronomers Association is hosting an event on Aug. 12 at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
“These moonless Perseid meteor showers are not as easy to come by, which is why I would encourage people to go for it this year,” Faherty said.
August is also a final opportunity to view seasonal celestial sights. The constellation Scorpius will be easy to spot because of its hook-shaped line of stars. Aug. 20 is a good time to search because the red star Antares, the heart of the scorpion, will be right next to the moon. Just after sunset, the constellation is visible in the south, close to the horizon. Scorpius is bordered by Libra on the west and Sagittarius to the east.
Alongside the scorpion’s tail is the Milky Way, which appears as a cloudy ribbon running across the sky from north to south.
“It's pretty cool. For anybody who's never seen the Milky Way, this is a really good month to give it a shot,” Fried said. “If you're not finding it from New York City, drag a friend with a car or find a way to get out of the city.”
