2017 Week 32: (August 6-12)

The famous Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak at the end of the week.  This meteor shower can sometimes peak above 100 meteors per hour.  The best time to see it is between midnight and dawn.  However, if you are out in the evening take a look in the Northeast sky and spot a few of these meteors.

Below is a list of astronomical events happening throughout the week.

Date	Event
August 7	Full Moon
August 9	Neptune 0.9°N of Moon
August 12	Mercury Stationary
August 12	Perseid Meteor Shower Peak

The Moon will be full Monday evening and will begin to wane back down to a New Moon.  The New Moon will occur on August 21 and will cover the Sun in what will be an amazing eclipse.

A couple days later Neptune will be in conjunction with the Moon.  It will likely be difficult to see as the light from a strong waning gibbous Moon will hinder a good view through a telescope.

The big event this week will be the Perseid Meteor Shower.  The best way for a novice to locate the radiant is to start by finding Cassiopeia.  This is the 'W' shaped constellation currently in the Northeastern sky.  Look underneath the westernmost bar of the 'W'.  This is where the meteors will seem to come from.  The image below circles this location.

Perseid Radiant

If you can, head East out of the city and bring a lawn chair.  The northeastern sky should have less light pollution from this location.  Keep and eye on the sky and you should see at least 1 meteor per minute, perhaps more.  Setup a camera on a tripod and take long exposures to see if you can catch one!

If you adapt to the darkness you will be able to see the double cluster just above the radiant point.  Also, just to the East of Cassiopeia you might be able to catch the Andromeda Galaxy with your naked eye!  What great sights!  The northern sky is typically off limits to those who live in southern Calgary!

I hope you are prepared for the solar eclipse on August 21!  Please send me a message if you need some eclipse glasses!