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John Homenuk

New, major meteor shower possible May 23-24

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Meteor showers come and go annually, often timed with the seasons. The Leonids, Perseids, and Quadrantids are staples in the calendar. Accordingly, many have become accustomed to not only the meteor showers timing — but the rate at which meteors fall (per hour) during each shower. Some even are able to recognize and remember where in the sky, or the constellations, from which the meteors radiate from. But what happens when an entirely new meteor shower comes into the picture, with the potential to reach “storm” level?

Enter: The Camelopardalid Meteor Shower, peaking on the night of May 23 – 24 2014

Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. The new meteor shower was discovered and timed by scientists last year — and was known to be possible before that. It is occurring, as most meteor showers do, due to the Earth passing through the debris path of a comet.  For instance, Earth has been passing through Comet Swift-Tuttle debris to create the Perseid meteor shower for thousands of years. This time, it’s Comet 209P/LINEAR which is causing the meteor shower — and Earth has never crossed paths with its debris before. (Featured image, meteor captured during the Eta-Aquarid meteor shower in 2013 by Justin Ng.)

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John Homenuk

Unsettled weather, and the return of the Perseids

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7 days into the month of August, and the general feeling in the air has been more autumn-like than anything else. How many times in the past several years have we been able to say that? Well, very few is the simple answer — Augusts have averaged much warmer and more humid than the first week of 2013’s. That being said, these things have a funny way of balancing themselves out. “Climo (climatology) will always catch up” is the famous saying throughout meteorology. We’ll see if it applies this month.

One thing is for sure, the low humidity and sun-filled weather of the past several days is on the way out. It’s hard not to notice it already this Wednesday morning. The culprit? A high pressure system (the one responsible for the gorgeous weather) is slipping offshore. As a result, surface winds have turned southeasterly — off the ocean waters. Moisture will slowly increase over the next 12-24 hours. The rain may hold off until the evening on Wednesday, as the atmosphere still needs some work (namely more moisture content) to be able to produce precipitation.

By Thursday, the atmosphere will have moistened up – and an approaching warm front will provide isentropic lift and promote the development of showers and thunderstorms. Much of the same is expected through Friday, with precipitable water values approaching 2″ by Friday near and ahead of a cold front.

Some more pleasant weather is on the horizon this weekend behind the front, but we have a few days of cloudy and stormy conditions to get through before we can enjoy the warm sun once again.

Perseid’s return to light up the night sky: The annual Perseid meteor shower returns over the next week – and stargazers will be excited to learn that this years shower once again looks promising. The shower actually began a few days ago, and will continue to increase in numbers each night until a peak between August 11th-13th. Clouds will obstruct any meteor viewing through Friday, but this weekend could offer some prime-time viewing. Stay tuned for more updates as the peak approaches!

John Homenuk

“Supermoon” to highlight a quiet weather weekend

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A "supermoon" can look especially large when it first rises near the horizon.

With a cold front passing the region late Friday Night through Saturday, high pressure is forecast to build in to the forecast area for the weekend. Although some showers could be around for a brief period on Saturday, the high pressure is expected to remain in control for the majority of both Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures, also, will cooperate as the airmass isn’t overly cold behind the front. In fact, high temperatures will still reach into the lower 70’s in many locations on both days. With a light breeze, it will feel quite pleasant. The main highlight of the weekend will come from the sky, but instead of rain or lightning it will come from the moon and a meteor shower. Indeed, an active night sky is expected on the evening of Cinco De Mayo.

Both the Aquarid meteor shower, and a “supermoon” will occur on Saturday night — quite a Cino De Mayo celebration for stargazers and skywatchers alike. A supermoon is a nearly annual occurrence (nearly once a year, but not officially annual) where the moon makes it’s closest approach to earth — and is also full. The moon will be closest at around 11:54pm and will appear up to 30% brighter and 14% bigger than the most dull moon during the calendar year. However, the moon will “appear” biggest when it rises near the horizon (around 8:00pm). Because of “distortion of view” (not fully understood by astronomers), especially if you are near any trees or buildings, the moon will look monstrous in the night sky as it rises above the horizon — in a similar way that the sun can look large when it sets.

But the party doesn’t end there! The debris field of Halley’s comet (also known as the Aquarid meteor shower) will pass near as well — scattering meteors throughout the night sky. The large, full moon is expected to obstruct the otherwise consistently performing meteor shower. Without a bright moon, around 50 meteors per hour are typical from the Aquarids. Expect a bit less this year.

Of course, almost all of our viewing depends on the cloud conditions — and it appears that it will be a close call. Some forecast models are showing an area of low clouds moving from north to south, coincidentally between around 8pm and 12am. If that comes to fruition, the skywatching party would likely be crashed and broken up early. Hopefully, we can maintain clear skies and enjoy a beautiful display from space. We’ll be watching it very closely, so stay tuned for cloud updates throughout the day on Saturday.