4 Seasons Cottage Resort near Algonquin Park
To see and do in the area
- Night Sky -

Shooting Stars / Meteor Showers:

(Including Grazers, Fireballs, Smoke Trails & Sonic Booms)

Primary sources NASA web site and Gary W Kronk’s Comet’s & Meteors web site.

Most meteor showers are caused by comet debris. As comets enter the inner solar system, they are warmed by the sun and peppered by the solar wind, which produces the familiar tails that stretch across the night sky when a bright comet is close to Earth.

Comet tails are made of tiny pieces of ice, dust, and rock which are spewed into interplanetary space as they bubble off the comet's nucleus. When Earth encounters these particles on its journey around the Sun, they strike the atmosphere speeds exceeding 100,000 mph. (The average speed of Perseid meteoroids is 130,000 mph!)

Most are observed as a bright streak across the sky that can last for several seconds, but occasionally a large fragment will explode in a multicolored fireball. Most of the streaks (popularly called 'shooting stars') are caused by meteoroids about the size of a grain of sand, but much less dense. Although they travel at high speeds, these tiny meteoroids pose no threat to people or objects on the ground.

Meteors can be seen on any night, but Earth enters clouds of particles several times each year and the result is a meteor shower. Calendar of meteor showers.

For your convenience from this calendar, the major meteor activities which are recommended for beginners and up:

Title	Duration	Maximum / Peak
Quadrantids	Dec 28 to Jan 4	04 – Jan 4
Lyrids	April 16 – 25	04 – Apr 22
Eta Aquarida	April 21 – May 12	04 – May 5
Perseids	July 23 – Aug 22	04 – Aug 12
Orionids	Oct 15 – 29	03 & 04 – Nov 21
Leonids	Nov 14 – 20	03 – Nov 18; 04 – Nov 17
Geminids	Dec 6 – 19	03 – Dec 14; 04 – Dec 13

General viewing recommendations: Experienced observers suggest the following viewing strategy: Bring a reclining chair, or spread a thick blanket over a flat spot of ground (probably don’t want to do this in January in Canada). Lie down and look up.. You don't need to stare directly at the radiant -- the meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. Binoculars and telescopes are not essential. The naked eye is usually best for seeing meteors which often streak more than 45 degrees across the sky. The field of view of most binoculars and telescopes is simply too narrow for good meteor observations.

Perseids (July 23 – Aug 22; 04 peak – Aug 12)

• Historically the Perseids are the best known of all meteor showers. It rarely fails to provide a pleasing display and, because of its summertime appearance, it tends to attract many astronomy novices.
  
  
• Photos including one of a Perseid meteor appearing virtually in the middle of a bright aurora
  
  
• The Perseids were the first meteors ever associated with a particular comet - Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle (the largest object known to make repeated passes near the Earth) orbits the Sun once every 135 years. The last time it passed near Earth was in December 1992. The proximity of the comet once again caused an increase in Perseid activity and, in August 1993, observers in Central Europe were treated to 200 to 500 meteors per hour.
  
  
• Although the Perseids officially begin in late July, the shower builds rather slowly in intensity until there is a series of sharp peaks in activity near mid-August.
  
  
• Perseid observing tips
  
  
  • In the northern hemisphere, Perseid meteors can be seen anytime after the sun has set. In practice, watching for meteors between sunset and midnight is rarely profitable. The best time to look is between about 2 a.m. and dawn. That's when the local sky is pointing directly into the meteoroid debris stream.
    
    
  • The rate of meteor activity is usually greatest near dawn because the earth's orbital motion is in the direction of the dawn terminator. Earth scoops up meteoroids on the dawn side of the planet and outruns them on the dusk side.
    
    
  • To best observe the Perseids wear appropriate clothing for the weather and lie outside in a reclining lawn chair. In the Northern Hemisphere, the display is best observed if you lie with your feet pointing somewhere between the southern and eastern horizon and look straight up.
    

Leonids: (Nov 14 – 20; peaks: 03 – Nov 18; 04 – Nov 17)

• Called the Leonids because they appear to radiate out of the constellation Leo. The parent comet is named Tempel-Tuttle and it makes an appearance in our skies every 33 years
  
  
• The Leonids are fast meteors and they leave lots of trains. They enter Earth's atmosphere traveling at speeds of over 158,000 miles per hour (mph). Besides being fast, the Leonids usually contain a large number of very bright meteors. The trains of these bright meteors can last from several seconds to several minutes.
  
  
• Leonids Photos
  
  
• Sky-watchers on Earth have little to fear. Leonid meteoroids are smaller than a grain of sand and much less dense. They are so insubstantial that they disintegrate almost immediately when they hit Earth's atmosphere. The result is a shooting star.
  
  
  • Earth-orbiting satellites might have more to worry about. Tiny meteoroids can poke holes in solar panels, pit surfaces, and short out electronics. The hazard from the Leonids is greater than the danger from most meteor showers for two reasons. The debris stream from comet Tempel-Tuttle is particularly dense, and the Leonid meteoroids travel at very high velocities, nearly 45 miles per second. With proper precautions, such as pointing vulnerable systems away from the incoming meteoroids, most damage can be avoided.
    
    
• Fireballs are caused by meteoroids that are essentially no different than the ones responsible for normal meteors. They are simply bigger (usually larger than a millimeter in size) and, contrary to intuition, slower.
  
  
  • If a fireball penetrates to the stratosphere, below an altitude of about 50 km, and explodes, there is a chance that sonic booms can be heard on the ground below. Such events are rare.
    
    
  • According to the American Meteor Society, fireballs can develop two types of trails behind them: "trains" and "smoke trails". A train is a glowing trail of hot, ionized gas that can persist for many minutes, or even as long as a half-hour. Long-lasting trains often change shape over time as they are blown about by winds 100 kilometers or so above the ground.
    
    
  • A second type of trail is called a smoke trail. Smoke trails are composed of non-luminous particles stripped away from a meteoroid by friction as it flys through the atmosphere (this process of stripping is called ablation). They appear similar to contrails left behind by aircraft, and are generally seen during the daytime because of the sunlight they reflect.
    
    
  • An experienced meteor observer who monitored the Leonid shower from Targoviste, Romania on the night of 16/17 November. In a 6-hour observing period under dark skies he saw 796 meteors, of which 193 were fireballs.
    
    
• Since Tempel-Tuttle passed closest to the sun in February of 1998, the years following were expected to produce very strong displays. Displays of 250-300 per hour occurred in 1998, 3700 per hour occurred in 1999, and 480 per hour occurred in 2000. The Leonids were in a cycle of strong activity up to 2002. Although no "storm" level activity is predicted during the next few years, above-normal displays may be present through 2006.
  
  
• Leonid observing tips
  
  
  • Start watching sometime after about 11:30 p.m. local time (because of Earth's rotation, local time literally means "your time"). The radiant will still be about an hour from rising, but you will have the opportunity to see the "Grazers". These are Leonids that are not dropping down into Earth's atmosphere, but are instead grazing the atmosphere. These appear as reddish meteors that advance from east to west across a large part of the sky.
    
    
  • As the radiant rises near 12:30 a.m. local time, the Leonids will travel shorter distances across the sky as they drop down into the atmosphere. Their color will also change to white and blue-white. Some of the brightest will actually appear slightly greenish.
    
    
  • o To best observe the Leonids wear appropriate clothing for the weather. Lie outside in a reclining lawn chair with your feet pointing towards the east (the general direction of the radiant).