The Lyrid meteor shower will reach its maximum rate of activity. Some meteors will be visible each night from 19 Apr to 25 Apr, but the best show will be on this evening. The maximum number of meteors expected to be visible from a dark location is around 10 per hour (ZHR). The Moon will be 13 days old at the time of peak activity, and being so close to Full Moon, will severely limit the observations that will be possible. Shucks!
April’s Full Moon is the “Egg Moon”, “Pink Moon”, “Sprouting Grass Moon”, “Fish Moon”, “Seed Moon”, “Waking Moon”, or “Hanuman Jayanti”.
This shower should peak on May 5 or 6. It’s not the biggest craziest annual shower (you can expect to see a trail on average every 6-10 minutes) however in 2013 this is one of the few showers this year that will occur in the relative darkness of a quarter moon.
May’s Full Moon is the “Milk Moon”, “Flower Moon”, “Corn Planting Moon”, “Hare’s Moon”, or “Buddha Poornima”.
This event is cancelled by the site coordinator due to bad weather.
See front page of NOVAC Site for changes to event. More information about Great Meadow including directions and parking visit the Great Meadow Site page.
This Saturday we have two NOVAC events scheduled at Crockett. From 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM we’ll be conducting solar public observing. And from dusk to 11:00 PM we’ll have our standard public night. The daytime solar observing makes this one of our special Crockett events. Both are weather permitting. And the hope at this time of year is that the unpredictable weather may cooperate for at least one, if not both events.
For the daytime solar observing bring any solar capable scope (e.g., white light, H-Alpha, Calcium) or indirect methods. Â Safety first! And don’t forget to dress appropriately – hat, sunscreen, plenty to drink, etc.
Please let me know which event you plan to attend, even you just want to help and don’t have solar astro-equipment.
Please read the C.M. Crockett Page for park details.
In the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year when the Sun is farthest north. In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. The summer solstice marks the first day of the season of summer. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) summer solstice is known as the tropic of cancer (23° 27′).
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SummerSolstice.html