Spaced-Out Challenge: Meteor Shower Friday Night!

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Welcome again to the Spaced-Out Challenge! Whether you have a question about equipment, a new astronomical discovery you want to expand on, or just want to kick back and enjoy the cosmos above, come one come all on our weekly astronomical journey.

This week, we eagerly anticipate a brand new meteor shower "originating" from a constellation most of us can neither see nor pronounce. Join me!

The Camelopardalids: a "New" Meteor Shower

While initially projected to become a "meteor storm", there is great uncertainty about just how many we can catch per hour. Being the first year of observing, it could wow, or it could disappoint. To get an estimate of the expected peak meteor count in your area, check out SETI's Fluximator. Apparently, we will be going through a debris field left from a passing of a recently discovered comet- a debris field from over a hundred years ago. NASA has more:

The "radiant" point for the meteor is near the very dim, rather new constellation Camelopardalis. But if you just look to your north after Midnight on Friday (or 3am for you East Coast morons), you should see a nice stream of shooting stars and fireballs:

All you need to do to enjoy this weekend's meteor shower is stay up late, find a relatively dark spot, and enjoy your favorite lawn chair. For a list of very nice dark sky spots per state, check out our Perseid Meteor guide, which lists places for all fifty states, here

Twitter Astrophotography Roundup

To see one of your own images posted in a future thread, just tweet me with your best shot, @conartcritic

If you have any more questions about your new optics, feel free to ask below.
Until next time, clear skies to you, and keep looking up!

posted by CAC at 09:33 PM

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