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2020 Meteor Showers

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It was time to mark a 2020 tripping calendar with astronomical events, mostly peak meteor shower dates. The Lyrids, Leonids and Geminids all peak when the moon is less than 5% full this year.

The yellow highlighter streaks on the appropriate calendar dates catch my eye, but for more complete reference I print out a paper copy of the below and keep it in my tripping journal.

Quadrantids
Next period of activity: December 27th to January 10th, 2020


The Quadrantids have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year but usually fall short due to the short length of maximum activity (6 hours). The average hourly rates one can expect under dark skies is 25. These meteors usually lack persistent trains but often produce bright fireballs. Due to the high northerly declination (celestial latitude) these meteors are not well seen from the southern hemisphere.
The Quadrantids will peak on the Jan 3-4, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 58% full.

Lyrids
Next period of activity: April 16th, 2020 to April 28th, 2020
The Lyrids are a medium strength shower that usually produces good rates for three nights centered on the maximum. These meteors also usually lack persistent trains but can produce fireballs. These meteors are best seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is high in the sky at dawn.
Next Peak - The Lyrids will next peak on the Apr 21-22, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 1% full.
eta Aquariids

April 19th, 2020 to May 28th, 2020
From the equator northward, they usually only produce medium rates of 10-30 per hour just before dawn. Activity is good for a week centered the night of maximum activity. These are swift meteors that produce a high percentage of persistent trains, but few fireballs.
Next Peak - The eta Aquariids will next peak on the May 6-7, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 100% full.

Southern delta Aquariids
July 12th, 2020 to August 23rd, 2020
North of the equator the radiant is located lower in the southern sky and therefore rates are less than seen from further south. These meteors produce good rates for a week centered on the night of maximum. These are usually faint meteors that lack both persistent trains and fireballs.
Next Peak - The Southern delta Aquariids will next peak on the Jul 29-30, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 77% full.

alpha Capricornids
July 3rd, 2020 to August 15th, 2020
The Alpha Capricornids are active from July 3 through August 15 with a "plateau-like" maximum centered on July 30. This shower is not very strong and rarely produces in excess of five shower members per hour. What is notable about this shower is the number of bright fireballs produced during its activity period.
Next Peak - The alpha Capricornids will next peak on the Jul 29-30, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 77% full.

Perseids
July 17th, 2020 to August 26th, 2020
The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24. They reach a strong maximum on August 12 or 13, depending on the year. Normal rates seen from rural locations range from 50-75 shower members per hour at maximum.
Next Peak - The Perseids will next peak on the Aug 11-12, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 47% full.

Southern Taurids
September 10th, 2020 to November 20th, 2020
The Southern Taurids are a long-lasting shower that reaches a barely noticeable maximum on October 9 or 10. The shower is active for more than two months but rarely produces more than five shower members per hour, even at maximum activity. The Taurids (both branches) are rich in fireballs and are often responsible for increased number of fireball reports from September through November.
Next Peak - The Southern Taurids will next peak on the Oct 9-10, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 50% full.

Orionids
October 2nd, 2020 to November 7th, 2020
The Orionids are a medium strength shower that sometimes reaches high strength activity. In a normal year the Orionids produce 10-20 shower members at maximum. In exceptional years, such as 2006-2009, the peak rates were on par with the Perseids (50-75 per hour). Recent displays have produced low to average displays of this shower.
Next Peak - The Orionids will next peak on the Oct 21-22, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 34% full.

Northern Taurids
October 20th, 2020 to December 10th, 2020
This shower is much like the Southern Taurids, just active a bit later in the year. When the two showers are active simultaneously in late October and early November, there is sometimes an notable increase in the fireball activity. There seems to be a seven year periodicity with these fireballs. 2008 and 2015 both produced remarkable fireball activity.
Next Peak - The Northern Taurids will next peak on the Nov 11-12, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 15% full.

Leonids
November 6th, 2020 to November 30th, 2020
The Leonids are best known for producing meteor storms in the years of 1833, 1866, 1966, 1999, and 2001. Unfortunately it appears that the earth will not encounter any dense clouds of debris until 2099. The best we can hope for now until the year 2030 is peaks of around 15 shower members per hour and perhaps an occasional weak outburst when the earth passes near a debris trail. The Leonids are often bright meteors with a high percentage of persistent trains.
Next Peak - The Leonids will next peak on the Nov 16-17, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 5% full.

Geminids
December 4th, 2020 to December 17th, 2020
The Geminids are usually the strongest meteor shower of the year. This is the one major shower that provides good activity prior to midnight as the constellation of Gemini is well placed from 22:00 onward. The Geminids are often bright and intensely colored. Due to their medium-slow velocity, persistent trains are not usually seen.
Next Peak - The Geminids will next peak on the Dec 13-14, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 1% full.

Ursids
December 17th, 2020 to December 26th, 2020
Observers will normally see 5-10 Ursids per hour during the late morning hours on the date of maximum activity. There have been occasional outbursts when rates have exceeded 25 per hour.
Next Peak - The Ursids will next peak on the Dec 22-23, 2020 night. On this night, the moon will be 59% full.

Note: There will be Penumbral Lunar Eclipses visible from most of North America on July 5th and November 30[SUP]th[/SUP].
 
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That's it??? Really, Mike, this isn't quite up to the usual OCD-level-of-detail that I have come to appreciate and expect from you! Can you please reformat this as a table or better yet an Excel spreadsheet and add columns (1) listing the top three lakes from which to view each meteor shower and (2) ranking all campsites at each of the aforementioned lakes based on an assessment of the sites' (a) size, (b) quality of landing, (c) sun/shade, (d) bugginess, (e) swimming opportunities, (f) privacy and (g) meteor-viewing-potential? Thanks in advance! ;)
 
Good list, I'll mark the peak dates down as potential cold rainy layover days! I've had really bad luck with the Perseids, I've been paddling during them for at least the past 15 years and every single time the conditions have been poor. The last time I saw a good show was about 35 years ago and even for that I had to drive around for hours to find a clear view.

I think it's easier to take some acid!
 
That's it??? Really, Mike, this isn't quite up to the usual OCD-level-of-detail that I have come to appreciate and expect from you! Can you please reformat this as a table or better yet an Excel spreadsheet and add columns (1) listing the top three lakes from which to view each meteor shower and (2) ranking all campsites at each of the aforementioned lakes based on an assessment of the sites' (a) size, (b) quality of landing, (c) sun/shade, (d) bugginess, (e) swimming opportunities, (f) privacy and (g) meteor-viewing-potential? Thanks in advance! ;)

Cut and pasted from my ready-to-print meteor shower list didn’t format well, and I had to edit that post three times with the correct spacing and bolds. And still gave up before everything was right.

I can answer #1. For you, anywhere on Assateague, the further away from the glare of Ocean City lights the better. I recommend the Pine Tree siite.

Or on any barrier island away from syphilization light sources. Depending on the viewing direction and horizon desired it is a short walk out to the beachfront or the bayside on most barrier island. If you want to know the simple compass direction and horizon elevation to watch for the best view I’ll reveal that for a price. My tripping calendar is marked NE or SSW.

Anywhere away from artificial lights at higher elevation, above treeline or out in the desert. More locally Spruce Knob in WVA is a favorite place to watch the sky, but there isn’t much paddling up there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_Knob

Good list, I'll mark the peak dates down as potential cold rainy layover days!

I think it's easier to take some acid!

If it is rainy and cloud occluded you may not see much without the hallucination help. Not saying you can’t do both if it is clear out. Several of the best meteor showers are pre-dawn prime viewing.

The best show ever was a Leonid storm in 1999. A group trip to Assateague for that viewing purpose. At least 400 big streakers, we stopped trying to count. Some that went nearly horizon-to-horizon, fireballs with trails, bolides that exploded into streaking fragments, one that skipped over the atmosphere like a flat stone on a calm pond.

Just freaking awesome. there was so much “Oohhing” and “Ahhhing” it sounded like a womenfolk gathered at a baby shower.

7 or 8 guys on that trip, three of whom turned in early. None of the folks watching the show was willing to leave our mid-island open viewing area and walk back through the pines to camp to wake them up. They missed the whole thing, and didn’t believe us until they got home and saw the newspaper reports
 
The last good Perseid show was long ago, '80 or '81... there has been nothing since then to match the long, streaking meteor trails seen that year. The Geminids do seem to provide more meteors, maybe as often as one a minute and small trails only but it's been so cold on clear December nights in the Bancroft area that the time spent outside becomes limited..

As winter comes on, the constellation Orion will become visible evenings with the nebula features in the sword of Orion visible on the clearest nights. Binoculars will be needed, there's an illustration of the view here, along with a most cheery description.

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/obs...ts-to-watch/observing-the-great-orion-nebula/

PS... I've also been going out nights looking north for aurora which also seem to have been more spectacular in the past.
 
The last good Perseid show was long ago, '80 or '81... there has been nothing since then to match the long, streaking meteor trails seen that year.

I guess it depends on the year, and moon phase and clarity of night sky.

For 30 years we scheduled a State Park group car camper and 4 day weekend of rivers trip to coincide with the Perseid peak. The park offered a long, wide dock out over the river, perfect for a couple dozen people reclining on chaise lounges or blankets to sky watch. And drink and etc.

Some years it was cloudy, or the moon was near full, or the Perseids were not very active. But some years were absolutely worth the watch with long streakers, colors, smoke trails and the first bolide I had ever seen. The first bolide most of us had ever seen; it exploded in a bright flash, and scattered into pieces with smoke trails.

Someone on the dock more astronomically knowledgeable answered the group’s cry of “WTF was that?”

Picture a couple dozen people, laying on a dock in the middle of the night, all going “OOOHHHH” and “AHHHHH” in unison. There are a lot of memorable stories from that State Park dock. My two favorite:

We might have been getting a bit loud after Quiet Hours with our exclamations, but our group had filled most of the Park (we had 70 people in attendance one year), and the dock is a hundred yards away from the nearest tent sites.

In the wee hours a Ranger walked down to give us a warning, but for perhaps understandable reasons didn’t seem to want to get too close. He stood on a hill a good distance away and yelled “I don’t even wanna know what you people are doing down there, but ya gotta be more quiet”. That presumed dock orgy led to the second favorite memory of bad behavior.

I brought a piece of sidewalk chalk down to the dock the next year. No one trusted me to chalk their body outline, so I lay down arms and legs akimbo as the first crime-scene victim and allowed someone else to do the honors. My body outline was surprisingly well endowed.

And then the fun began, as other folks volunteered to be chalk outlines. The dock became a mass of intertwined chalk outline bodies, a veritable kama sutra in white chalk. There were threesomes, foursomefivesomes, foot fetishes and even a couple of dogs in the action.

The next morning was not fun. Sidewalk chalk is not easy to scrub off pressure treated lumber, and everyone’s kids were up early as usual.

Third favorite dock story took 20 years to develop. One of the dock attendees in the early 80’s was a young post doc from my work. A hard drinking Aussie. He was three sheets to the wind and attempting to make and hand out Blue Hawaiian cocktails. He made one on request, bespoke heavy on the rum, and tripped over the leg of a picnic table on the dock en route to delivery, smashing the plastic cup and himself.

He got up, slurred “No worries mate” and made another. And tripped over the same picnic table leg exactly as before. And got up, by now well covered in blue slime, made a third cocktail, and did it yet again. He was an Aussie, and did manage to mix and deliver on the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] attempt before passing out. None of this was abnormal behavior for that group.

I included a description of his difficulties in the trip report, which included his full name (there were 4 different “Daves” on the dock). That trip report was posted on-line as usual.

Fast forward 20 some years. Dave K is now a respected research professor at the University. He was interviewing a young woman for a position in his lab and at the end of the interview he asked “So, do you have any questions”.

Her sly reply was something like “So, I understand you enjoyed mixing Blue Hawaiians on a dock over the Pocomoke”. She had Googled his name and found that trip report. She did get the job; it’s all about the research.

BTW, two other guys from those trips are now endowed department Chairmen. Who may still live in trepidation of old trip reports surfacing.
 
I don't recall what year it was but the best viewing I ever saw was while sitting in Conundrum Hot Springs at something like 8000 ft up in the Rockies outside of Aspen, CO where my friend was stationed as a ranger. Best show I ever saw!
 
Here's an interesting map of light pollution. The map opens on Europe, but you can drag it around and zoom in. Unsurprisingly, some of the the darkest if not the darkest night skies east of the Mississippi in the U.S. appear to be the area of Maine containing Lobster Lake, Chesuncook Lake and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

I have noticed those night skies to be superb for star gazing and I suppose this map confirms it wasn't just my imagination. Now I'll have to try to time my next trip to coincide with one or those meteor showers.

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=7&lat=5857531&lon=-7765628&layers=B0FFFFFTFFFFFFFF
 
I, too, put meteor showers on my annual planning calendar as well as moon phases, eclipses and other astronomical phenomena.
 
Alsg, that is indeed an interesting light pollution map...Algonquin Park in Ontario appears as an island of dark skies surrounded by development. I've noticed some light pollution in the Bancroft area since the Canadian Tire megastore and parking lot was built.

A little test for light pollution on clear nights... if you can still see Andromeda's galactic oval shape with the naked eye, the LP isn't bad. Best seen summer and early autumn nights when Andromeda is higher overhead... the W-shaped Cassiopea constellation near the north star can be used to find Andromeda, with the most pointed of the two triangles in the W pointing directly to the galaxy.

Other interesting winter sky features appearing in the east are the Pleiades and Beehive star clusters... the latter needs binoculars and the former is visible with naked eye but absolutely impressive seen through sharp binos.
 
I don’t know what it is about the Pleiades/Seven Sisters/etc, but that is always the first thing that draws my eye on a clear winter night. I look up at random and BAM, without fail, there it is.

Almost every culture had a name for that tight, bright cluster. Wiki:

“They have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world, including the Celts, Hawaiians (who call them Makali:i) Māori (who call them Matariki) the Persians, the Arabs (who called them Thurayya), the Chinese (who called them Mao) the Quechua, the Japanese, the Maya, the Aztec, the Sioux, the Kiowa, and the Cherokee. In Hinduism, the Pleiades are known as Krittika and are associated with the war-god Kartikeya. They are also mentioned three times in the Bible

If I can see five or six of them (there are actually more like nine in the modern outline of the cluster/constellation) it is a decently clear night.
 
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Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which in turn inspires the Subaru logo and alludes to the five companies that merged to create FHI. The word "subaru" means "united" in Japanese, and Fuji Heavy Industries has used the term to describe how the Pleiades constellation is a unification of the stars. Fuji Heavy Industries is therefore a constellation of companies united together.
 
Mike,

I don’t know what it is about the Pleiades/Seven Sisters/etc, but that is always the first thing that draws my eye on a clear winter night.

Yes, the Pleiades are an especially brilliant star cluster... through binoculars, they're all a uniform and pure blue color, with very fine detail that seems diamond-like in a dark sky.. Also nearby and to the east is Orion, very distinctive of winter night skies.

Couldn't stop from googling further and need to get out there on a clear night sometime soon...midway from Orion and the Pleiades is the constellation Taurus which includes the Hyades star cluster, less impressive but still worth a look. Unlike the uniformly blue collection of stars of the Pleiades, it includes a yellow and blue double star combination Theta Tauri. Also Aldebaran in Taurus and Betelgeuse in Orion, red giants for contrasting colors.

One of the best pieces of gear I ever bought were good-quality binoculars... the sharpness and clarity is amazing at times and besides stars, birds are another thing to look at that's often impressive with sharp detail being shown in every feather becoming visible.

New Year's Day, maybe I'll wander off to the Lake Ontario waterfront to spend some time looking around with the binos... happy 2020!
 
Canoeing and meteor showers came together for me in the late 60's when I participated in the Paddlerama, a Philadelphia Council of the BSA sponsored 50 mile, 2 day, relay race down the Delaware River between PA and NJ. On race weekend, our team camped cowboy-style (no tents) in the field next to the starting gate. The race was then held on the second weekend in August and always coincided with the Perseid meteor shower. It was awesome to lie back in our sleeping bags and view the show in comfort! I've always seeked out meteors ever since.

The attached link has a Boy's Life article about the race, and the page above has photos from the training weekend that took place the month before the race each year. The bald guy in the top photo was my scoutmaster and mentor. He was often mistaken for the actor Yul Brynner, and we sometimes called him that! The kid in the lower left photo is my old pal Scott from my troop. You'll note that all the canoes are Grumman aluminum... everybody used them. We eventually graduated to fiberglass C-1's and kayaks, but earned our paddling experience in the good old 17' Grumman everywhere from whitewater runs on the Lehigh river in Spring flood stage, to Algonquin, the Allagash, the Abitibi, etc.

Click on the top line: Boys Life...
 
I'll be in the depths of the Grand Canyon for the Lyrids. Something to look forward to!
 
Well, here in our patch of the foothills of the Blue Ridge and up in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area the moon rise and set times for the Perseid Meteor Shower the peak week of 10-15 August are good with moon rise at midnight or later and moon set well before dark all week. So this one won't be a canoe trip but we'll be in the Mount Rogers High Country far from any cities that week and hoping for a few nights of clear skies. We hope to snag one of the first come first campsites on Deer Island at Philpott Lake near Bassett, VA during the Perseids, too.

Thanks again for the "heads up Mike!

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
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