Saturday, July 25, 2015

moon moment + shooting stars upcoming


Since days, the moon keeps hiding - I finally looked up moonrise and moonset-times, to learn that currently it is mostly a daymoon. But once, it stood right there at dusk, just above the street lamp.

The main sky event of this week, though, were: shooting stars! On tuesday evening, the sky was all clear, and the high temperatures of the day were still lingering, so we sat outside and watched the stars appear, one after the another. A bat flew by, and we some satellites in their orbit - and then the magic started: shooting stars! First one, then another, then a third one... so beautiful.

I looked for a meteor guide to learn more about them, but there is no specific meteor listed for the 21st July. The upcoming shooting star dates are:
  • July 28-29, 2015 Delta Aquarids 
  • August 12-13, 2015 Perseids
It might be an idea to mark the date for the Perseids this year:
"The famous Perseid meteor shower ... will peak on the mornings of August 11, 12 and 13. It’s going to be a wonderful year for the Perseids! The moon is out of the way." - earthsky website
Googling further, I came across this German page that also includes smaller meteor showers - so the one we saw on the 21st july actually might belong to Piscis or Delta-Aqurides, both had middle or high activity at that date. (Sternschnunppen-Kalender)

International Space Station 
To round up the upcoming sky events, here's the ISS-location-website that shows its visibility, depending on location: ISS observation / Visible Passes

About the ISS: if you once seen ISS, you recognize it – it’s much larger and brighter than all the other satellites. I just looked for a video and found this timelapse: International Space Station Flyby

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 more skies from around the world: skywatch friday



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