We are once again heading into the Summer weeks when even casual observers of the night sky are likely to see some shooting stars. Some shooting stars can be quite spectacular, and even though the biggest meteor shower of the year will be flooded by the light of the full moon in August, you should still get out and watch the sky.
Shooting stars, which are more properly known as meteors, are basically small rocks, with sizes ranging from a speck of dust to a pea. During meteor showers, most meteors are likely coming from an old or ancient comet, the latter of which may no longer exist. So, how does something as small as speck of dust or a pea create a streak of light in the sky that we can see with nothing more than our eyes?
It basically comes down to friction.
Rub your hands together really fast and the warm feeling on your fingers and palms is a result of friction. Now take a rock as small as dust or a pea, hurl it at Earth's atmosphere at speeds ranging from 25 thousand to 160 thousand miles per hour, and the denser air that begins glowing 60-100 miles above Earth is a result of friction.
The best time to observe meteors will be from now to the very early days of August. Several meteor showers coming from the constellations Aquarius and Capricornus, in the southern portion of the sky, will be sending meteors northward into the skies over St. Louis, as well as all cities in the Northern Hemisphere, AND southward into the skies in the Southern Hemisphere.
For St. Louis, and most other Northern Hemisphere cities, the best way to observe these meteors is to lay in a reclining lawn chair and look straight up, making sure to be away from lights and obstructions such as houses, buildings, and trees. The fewer the obstructions and the less light you have to contend with, the more meteors you are likely see. It is possible to see about 20-25 meteors per hour near the end of July and during the early days of August.
The most spectacular and most observed meteor shower of the year unfortunately peaks around full moon this year. Known as the Perseid meteor shower, it can produce 50-80 meteors per hour all by itself, but moonlight will probably drop this to 15-25 around the night of maximum, which is August 13. Perseid meteors are quite distinguishable from the meteors noted above. They come from the northern sky and most are generally visible moving southward. They will also be some of the fastest meteors shooting across the sky, crossing one-third to one-half the sky in about 2 seconds!
Because meteor showers originate from comets, which represent some of the oldest objects in our solar system, astronomers can learn a lot by studying meteors. But for everyone else, watching meteors can be fun. Think about how fast the particles move across the sky, as nothing on Earth can move that fast. Observe the colors as each bright meteor moves across the sky. Although the colors may appear different from one observer to the next, many of the brightest meteors take on a strong greenish hue, which is believed to be due to our atmosphere's oxygen reacting to the passage of the meteor. These are truly a sight to see!
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