Upcoming celestial event. May 5th best for late night/early morning viewing. Get up early or stay up late and take a look. Put out a light to attract your moths and you might get a two for one special event. Details on the meteors below or http://www.amsmeteors.org/lunsford/
Art
The Eta Aquarids (ETA) are particles from Halley's Comet, which last passed through the inner solar system in 1986. Even though this is now nineteen years ago, material is still encountered every year in late April and
throughout most of May. We pass closest to Halley's orbit on May 5. Current rates would be 1-2 per hour from a radiant located at 22:12 (333) -04. This area of the sky is located in northern Aquarius, four degrees south of the third magnitude star Sadalmelik (Alpha Aquarii). The best time to view this activity is just before the start of morning twilight, when the radiant lies highest in a dark sky. Observers located closer to the tropics have a better chance of seeing these meteors as the radiant will rise higher into a dark sky. Morning twilight is especially troublesome in the high Northern latitudes, where the radiant is situated low in the sky at the start of twilight. With an entry velocity of 66 kilometers per second, a majority of these meteors will appear to move swiftly and produce a high percentage of persistent trains.
Celestial event, shooting stars & maybe moths too.
Cool! Thanks.
Let me know if you see any thing Art. I am not much for getting up very early unless its going to be hot out! Like July/August.
John
It's getting warm here at night now, and it's very comfortable early in the morning. I lay out on a recliner with a nice pillow under my head next to the pool looking up at the night sky. The city lights are not a bother at that time of night. The weather here is good for this kind of thing. The clouds that may or may not develop generally move quickly over the peninsula so they are not usually a problem. Not much polution here either, just lots of night sky and brilliant stars and the sounds of night. Since I look for meteors whenever they are available, I am accustomed to seeing them. I actually look forward to seeing the moths. The meteors are just an excuse to get out there and lay around for a while. The problem is when I see a moth I have a hard time trying to identify it.
Art
We're having an unusually cool spring. kennedyh is very good at identifying butterflies and moths. Give him a crack at it. Bet he'd be willing to teach us all how to go about it, too. We just have to lure him in.
On the cool spring; The same here. Our spring so far has been much cooler than normal. In today's paper there was a piece on the front page noting this. It's also been much drier for us too. The month of April we had no rain in Ft Lauderdale. Yesterday we had a bit, but only a bit. It wasn't even enough to measure. The article mentioned Royal Poinciana specifically, since it's our trademark "spring is in full bloom" tree. Comparing what the piece said, mine is exactly the same. The leaves are just beginning to come out when normally the tree would be providing shade by this time of year. It usually is in bloom by the middle of May. This year, it looks like it may be sometime June. I can see the effect on my Bougainvillea also. Usually they are full of leaves and the bracts are in bloom. This year, it's very selective. A few have their leaves and a couple of bracts, but no where near the norm. In fact, I have sent in a few pictures of Bougainvillea I have in the yard, but the pictures are only of a select branch or two, not the whole bush. The reason is there is not a single whole bush worth taking a picture of.
Art
Cool again today than a warming trend. Been warmer in Fairbanks, Ak than here! The cool season weeds are hanging on. My warm season garden plants have stalled! This, too, will pass. LOL