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Tag: Meteors and meteorites

  • The year’s first meteor shower and supermoon clash in January skies

    NEW YORK — The year’s first supermoon and meteor shower will sync up in January skies, but the light from one may dim the other.

    The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks Friday night into Saturday morning, according to the American Meteor Society. In dark skies during the peak, skygazers typically see around 25 meteors per hour, but this time they’ll likely glimpse less than 10 per hour due to light from Saturday’s supermoon.

    “The biggest enemy of enjoying a meteor shower is the full moon,” said Mike Shanahan, planetarium director at Liberty Science Center in New Jersey.

    Meteor showers happen when speedy space rocks collide with Earth’s atmosphere, burning up and leaving fiery tails in their wake — the end of a “shooting star.” A handful of meteors are visible on any given night, but predictable showers appear annually when Earth passes through dense streams of cosmic debris.

    Supermoons occur when a full moon is closer to Earth in its orbit. That makes it appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA. That difference can be tough to notice with the naked eye.

    Supermoons, like all full moons, are visible in clear skies everywhere that it’s night. The Quadrantids, on the other hand, can be seen mainly from the Northern Hemisphere. Both can be glimpsed without any special equipment.

    To spot the Quadrantids, venture out in the early evening away from city lights and watch for fireballs before the moon crashes the party, said Jacque Benitez with the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences. Skygazers can also try looking during early dawn hours on Sunday.

    Wait for your eyes to get used to the darkness, and don’t look at your phone. The space rocks will look like fast-moving white dots and appear over the whole sky.

    Meteor showers are named for the constellation where the fireballs appear to come from. The Quadrantids — space debris from the asteroid 2003 EH1 — are named for a constellation that’s no longer recognized.

    The next major meteor shower, called the Lyrids, is slotted for April.

    Supermoons happen a few times a year and come in groups, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the moon’s elliptical orbit. Saturday night’s event ends a four-month streak that started in October. There won’t be another supermoon until the end of 2026.

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  • Catch the Ursid meteor shower as it peaks just before Christmas

    NEW YORK — The last major meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, peaks soon, bringing glowing streaks to nighttime and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it’s more subdued, but experts say it’s still worth a glimpse.

    Meteor showers happen when space rocks hit Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds and burn up, gaining fiery tails — the end of a “shooting star.” Random meteors are visible from Earth on any given clear night, but more predictable meteor showers happen yearly when Earth passes through streams of cosmic leftovers from comets or asteroids.

    The Ursids peak Sunday night into Monday morning and will be visible until Dec. 26 from the Northern Hemisphere. Skygazers usually see five to 10 meteors per hour during the height and there’s a possibility for outbursts of up to 25 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

    How active a shower will appear from Earth depends on the amount of debris and the moon’s brightness, which can blot out glowing meteors. The Ursids feature less space debris than other showers like the Geminids, but the narrow crescent moon won’t be much of an obstacle when they peak.

    No special equipment is needed to view a meteor shower. To see the Ursids, which hail from a comet called 8P/Tuttle, bundle up and get away from city lights.

    “The darker your sky, the better the shower is going to be,” said astronomer Peter Brown with Western University in Canada.

    The meteors can be seen over the whole sky, but all the streaks will seem to come from a central point near a constellation for which the shower is named. In this case, that’s the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper.

    Once it gets dark, avoid bright lights from cellphones, which will make it harder for your eyes to adjust.

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  • Interstellar comet keeps its distance as it makes its closest approach to Earth

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A stray comet from another star swings past Earth this week in one last hurrah before racing back toward interstellar space.

    Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas will pass within 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) of our planet on Friday, the closest it gets on its grand tour of the solar system.

    NASA continues to aim its space telescopes at the visiting ice ball, estimated to be between 1,444 feet (440 meters) and 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) in size. But it’s fading as it exits, so now’s the time for backyard astronomers to catch it in the night sky with their telescopes.

    The comet will come much closer to Jupiter in March, zipping within 33 million miles (53 million kilometers). It will be the mid-2030s before it reaches interstellar space, never to return, said Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

    It’s the third known interstellar object to cut through our solar system. Interstellar comets like 3I/Atlas originate in star systems elsewhere in the Milky Way, while home-grown comets like Halley’s hail from the icy fringes of our solar system.

    A telescope in Hawaii discovered the first confirmed interstellar visitor in 2017. Two years later, an interstellar comet was spotted by a Crimean amateur astronomer. NASA’s sky-surveying Atlas telescope in Chile spotted comet 3I/Atlas in July while prowling for potentially dangerous asteroids.

    Scientists believe the latest interloping comet, also harmless, may have originated in a star system much older than ours, making it a tantalizing target.

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  • NASA unveils close-up pictures of the comet popping by from another star

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA unveiled close-up pictures on Wednesday of the interstellar comet that’s making a quick one-and-done tour of the solar system.

    Discovered over the summer, the comet known as 3I/Atlas is only the third confirmed object to visit our corner of the cosmos from another star. It zipped harmlessly past Mars last month.

    Three NASA spacecraft on and near the red planet zoomed in on the comet as it passed just 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) away, revealing a fuzzy white blob. The European Space Agency’s two satellites around Mars also made observations.

    Other NASA spacecraft will remain on the lookout in the weeks ahead, including the Webb Space Telescope. At the same time, astronomers are aiming their ground telescopes at the approaching comet, which is about 190 million miles (307 million kilometers) from Earth. The Virtual Telescope Project’s Gianluca Masi zoomed in Wednesday from Italy.

    The comet is visible from Earth in the predawn sky by using binoculars or a telescope.

    “Everyone that is in control of a telescope wants to look at it because it’s a fascinating and rare opportunity,” said NASA’s acting astrophysics director, Shawn Domagal-Goldman.

    The closest the comet will come to Earth is 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) in mid-December. Then it will hightail it back into interstellar space, never to return.

    ESA’s Juice spacecraft, bound for Jupiter, has been training its cameras and scientific instruments on the comet all month, particularly after it made its closest pass to the sun. But scientists won’t get any of these observations back until February because Juice’s main antenna is serving as a heat shield while it’s near the sun, limiting the flow of data.

    Named for the telescope in Chile that first spotted it, the comet is believed to be anywhere from 1,444 feet (440 meters) across to 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) across. Observations indicate that the exceptionally fast-moving comet may have originated in a star system older than our own — “which gives me goose bumps to think about,” said NASA scientist Tom Statler.

    “That means that 3I/Atlas is not just a window into another solar system, it’s a window into the deep past and so deep in the past that it predates even the formation of our Earth and our sun,” Statler told reporters.

    NASA officials were quick to dispel rumors that this friendly solar system visitor, as they called it, might be an alien ship of some sort. They said that because of the federal government shutdown, they weren’t able to respond to all the theories cropping up in recent weeks.

    The space agency is always on the hunt for life beyond Earth, “but 3I/Atlas is a comet,” said NASA’s associate administrator, Amit Kshatriya.

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  • Two green comets shine bright. How to spot them in the night sky

    NEW YORK (AP) — Two bright green comets are streaming through the skies and are visible to skygazers in the Northern Hemisphere.

    Both hail from the outer edges of our solar system — possibly what’s known as the Oort Cloud, well beyond Pluto. Comet Lemmon will have its closest brush with Earth on or around Tuesday. The other cosmic snowball, Comet SWAN, should have its flyby with Earth on Monday, but it’s headed away from the sun and will likely grow dimmer as the days pass.

    Spotting two comets simultaneously without special equipment is “rare, but not unprecedented,” said Carson Fuls, director of the University of Arizona-based sky survey that spotted Comet Lemmon.

    To see the pair, go outside just after sunset and look to the northern sky for Comet Lemmon close to the horizon. Comet SWAN will also be near the horizon, but to the southwest.

    The double comets could be visible with binoculars through the end of the month, but experts aren’t yet sure how bright they’ll remain, said astronomer Valerie Rapson of the State University of New York at Oneonta.

    Comets are frozen leftovers from the solar system’s formation billions of years ago. They heat up as they swing toward the sun, releasing their characteristic streaming tails.

    Comet Lemmon, also designated C/2025 A6, was discovered in January by a telescope scouring the night sky for near-Earth asteroids. Comet SWAN, also known as C/2025 R2, was spotted in September by an amateur astronomer using photos from a spacecraft operated by NASA and the European Space Agency.

    The comets are green because of gases streaming off their surfaces. From Earth, they’ll look like gray, fuzzy patches.

    Earlier this year, a green comet broke up as it swung by the sun, dashing hopes of a naked-eye spectacle. A bright comet called Tsuchinshan-Atlas zoomed by Earth in 2024, and other notable flybys included Neowise in 2020 and Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the 1990s.

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  • Interstellar comet swinging past Mars as a fleet of spacecraft looks on

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A comet from another star system will swing by Mars on Friday as a fleet of spacecraft trains its sights on the interstellar visitor.

    The comet known as 3I/Atlas will hurtle within 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) of the red planet, its closest approach during its trek through the inner solar system. Its breakneck speed: 193,000 mph (310,000 kph).

    Both of the European Space Agency’s satellites around Mars are already aiming their cameras at the comet, which is only the third interstellar object known to have passed our way. NASA’s satellite and rovers at the red planet are also available to assist in the observations.

    Discovered in July, the comet poses no threat to Earth or its neighboring planets. It will come closest to the sun at the end of October. Throughout November, ESA’s Juice spacecraft, which is headed to Jupiter and its icy moons, will keep an eye on the comet.

    The comet will make its closest approach to Earth in December, passing within 167 million miles (269 million kilometers).

    Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope put the comet’s nucleus at no more than 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) across. It could be as small as 1,444 feet (440 meters), according to NASA.

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  • Telescope reveals a growing tail on the comet that’s visiting from another star

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Telescope observations reveal a growing tail on the comet that’s visiting from another star.

    Released Thursday, the pictures taken by the Gemini South telescope in Chile late last month are the most detailed yet of the recently discovered comet. They show a wide coma of dust and gas around the ice ball as it speeds toward the sun, and also a tail that’s more extended than it was in previous shots.

    These new images confirm that the comet is becoming more active as it plows harmlessly through our solar system, according to the National Space Foundation’s NoirLab, which operates the telescope. It’s only the third known interstellar object to venture our way.

    As of Thursday, the comet known as 3I-Atlas was 238 million miles (384 million kilometers) from Earth and growing ever nearer, according to NASA. It will make its closest approach to the sun at the end of October and then pass closest to Earth in December from 167 million miles (269 million kilometers) away — farther from Earth than the sun.

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  • The Taurid meteor showers peak a week apart in November

    The Taurid meteor showers peak a week apart in November

    WASHINGTON — Two sister meteor showers are already flashing across night skies — and will peak a week apart.

    The Southern Taurids will reach their zenith early Tuesday morning and the Northern Taurids on Nov. 12.

    While the two showers only produce around five visible meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions, they are often very bright fireballs, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum.

    “What’s notable is that they’re likely to produce brighter and longer-lasting meteors than some other showers, even if there aren’t as many” at a time, she said.

    The Southern Taurids will peak on an evening with only a slim crescent moon just 11% full. The Northern Taurids may be more obstructed by moonlight since the moon will be 79% full.

    Viewing of both showers will last into December. Here’s what to know about the Taurids and other meteor showers.

    Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.

    Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets. Both showers share the same parent source — originating from the debris of comet Encke.

    When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”

    The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.

    The two showers share similar names because, when seen in the night sky, they appear to originate from different points in the constellation Taurus.

    Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and predawn hours.

    It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.

    And your eyes will better adapted to seeing meteors if you aren’t checking your phone.

    Not long after the Taurids, the next big meteor shower, the Leonids, will peak on the early morning of Nov. 17.

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  • Two meteor showers will flash across the sky around the same time in late July

    Two meteor showers will flash across the sky around the same time in late July

    Get ready for a meteor shower doubleheader.

    The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks in late July. And this year, it will coincide with a second smaller meteor shower, the Alpha Capricornids.

    The Delta Aquariids occur every year in North America’s late summer. This year’s peak activity happens early Tuesday morning, with an expected 15 to 20 meteors visible per hour in the Northern Hemisphere, under dark skies. Viewing should be even better in the Southern Hemisphere. The shower lasts through August 21, according to the American Meteor Society.

    Around the same time, the Alpha Capricornid meteor shower should produce around five meteors per hour and lasts through August 15.

    Here’s what to know about the Delta Aquariids and other meteor showers.

    Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.

    Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets. The source of the Delta Aquariids is thought to be from the comet 96P/Machholz. The Alpha Capricornids originate from the comet 169P/NEAT.

    When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”

    The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.

    These two meteor showers are not high volume, but the Alpha Capricornids often produces very bright meteors, said University of Warwick astronomer Don Pollacco.

    For skygazers, “one bright one is worth 20 faint ones,” he said.

    Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and predawn hours.

    It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.

    And your eyes will better adapted to seeing meteors if you aren’t checking your phone. “It ruins your night vision,” said NASA’s Bill Cooke.

    The Southern Hemisphere will have the best view of Delta Aquariids. Coinciding with a waning moon around 30% full means the clearest viewing will happen after midnight.

    The meteor society keeps an updated list of upcoming large meteor showers, including the peak viewing days and moonlight conditions.

    The next major meteor shower will be the Perseids, peaking in mid-August.

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  • A meteor streaked over the NYC skyline before disintegrating over New Jersey

    A meteor streaked over the NYC skyline before disintegrating over New Jersey

    NEW YORK — A meteor streaked over the New York City skyline before disintegrating over nearby New Jersey, according to NASA.

    William Cooke, the head of the space agency’s Meteoroid Environments Office, said the fireball was first sighted at an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilometers) above Manhattan at around 11:17 a.m. Tuesday.

    The meteor passed over the southern part of Newark, New Jersey, before disintegrating 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the town of Mountainside, he said. No meteorites or other fragments of space debris reached the planet’s surface.

    The space rock moved at a speed of about 41,000 mph (66,000 kph) and descended at a relatively steep angle of 44 degrees from vertical, Cooke said.

    Its exact trajectory is uncertain, since reports are based only on eyewitness accounts and no camera or satellite data is currently available, he said.

    As of Wednesday morning, there had been approximately 40 eyewitness reports filed on the American Meteor Society website, which the agency used to generate its estimates, Cooke said.

    The fireball was not part of the Perseid meteor shower, and reports of loud booms and shaking could be explained by military aircraft in the vicinity around the time of its appearance, he said.

    Cooke said the New York City area gets treated to a daylight fireball every year or two.

    NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office said in a Facebook post that small rocks like the one that produced Tuesday’s fireball are only about a foot (a third of a meter) in diameter and can’t remain intact all the way to the ground.

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  • Space race! Meteorites hit Maine, museum offers $25K reward

    Space race! Meteorites hit Maine, museum offers $25K reward

    PORTLAND, Maine — Somewhere in a remote stretch of forest near Maine’s border with Canada, rocks from space crashed to Earth and may be scattered across the ground — just waiting to be picked up.

    If you’re the first person to find a big one, a museum says it’ll pay out a $25,000 reward.

    The unusually bright fireball could be seen in broad daylight around noon Saturday, said Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel.

    NASA says four radar sweeps detected “signatures consistent with falling meteorites seen at the time and location reported by eyewitnesses,” and people also heard sonic booms. It’s the first time radar spotted a meteorite fall in Maine, the space agency said.

    The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum wants to add to its collection, which includes moon and Mars rocks, Pitt said, so the first meteorite hunters to deliver a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) specimen will claim the $25,000 prize. That could be about the size of a softball.

    “With more people having an awareness, the more people will look — and the greater the likelihood of a recovery,” Pitt said Wednesday.

    Pitt said that because the descent was spotted by radar, he’s confident meteorites can be found on the ground.

    Still, there’s no guarantee there are any meteorites big enough to claim the payout.

    NASA said on its website that the “meteorite masses calculated from the radar signatures range from 1.59g (0.004 pounds) to 322g (0.7 pounds) although larger masses may have fallen.”

    The meteorites likely impacted across a swath of ground spanning from the town of Waite, Maine, to Canoose, New Brunswick. According to NASA, the largest specimens will be strewn at the west end of the debris field, closest to Waite — about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Portland.

    Locating a softball-sized space rock in the wilderness may be similar to finding a needle in a haystack: Pitt said the estimated area where the meteorites hit is about a mile wide (1.6 km) and stretches for 10-12 miles (16-19 km), all the way into Canada.

    The museum is asking aspiring meteorite hunters to brush up on what meteorites look like before searching, so they know what they’re looking for, and avoid private property unless they have permission.

    The museum has an extensive collection of specimens, including the largest intact Mars rock on Earth.

    Pitt said the museum is also looking to purchase any other specimens found by meteorite hunters. He said the specimens “could easily be worth their weight in gold.”

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  • New source of water found in moon samples from China mission

    New source of water found in moon samples from China mission

    Scientists have discovered a new and renewable source of water on the moon for future explorers in lunar samples returned from a Chinese mission

    ByMARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists have discovered a new and renewable source of water on the moon for future explorers in lunar samples from a Chinese mission.

    Water was embedded in tiny glass beads in the lunar dirt where meteorite impacts occur. These shiny, multicolored glass beads were in samples returned from the moon by China in 2020.

    The beads range in size from the width of one hair to several hairs; the water content was just a miniscule fraction of that, said Hejiu Hui of Nanjing University, who took part in the study.

    Since there are billions if not trillions of these impact beads, that could amount to substantial amounts of water, but mining it would be tough, according to the team.

    “Yes, it will require lots and lots of glass beads,” Hui said in an email. “On the other hand, there are lots and lots of beads on the moon.”

    These beads could continually yield water thanks to the constant bombardment by hydrogen in the solar wind. The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, are based on 32 glass beads randomly selected from lunar dirt returned from the Chang’e 5 moon mission.

    More samples will be studied, Hui said.

    These impact beads are everywhere, the result of the cooling of melted material ejected by incoming space rocks. Water could be extracted by heating the beads, possibly by future robotic missions. More studies are needed to determine whether this would be feasible and, if so, whether the water would be safe to drink.

    This shows “water can be recharged on the moon’s surface … a new water reservoir on the moon,” Hui said.

    Previous studies found water in glass beads formed by lunar volcanic activity, based on samples returned by the Apollo moonwalkers more than a half-century ago. These, too, could provide water not only for use by future crews, but for rocket fuel.

    NASA aims to put astronauts back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025. They’ll aim for the south pole where permanently shadowed craters are believed to be packed with frozen water.

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  • How to see February’s full snow moon | CNN

    How to see February’s full snow moon | CNN

    Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.



    CNN
     — 

    Look in the night sky this weekend for February’s full moon, where it can be glimpsed around the world.

    It will reach peak illumination around 1:29 p.m. ET Sunday, but the moon will appear full from early Saturday morning through early Tuesday morning, according to NASA.

    The full moon is considered a micromoon because it appears slightly smaller than normal in our sky due to its distant location in orbit around Earth right now, according to EarthSky. January’s full moon was also a micromoon.

    The moon will still be very bright even though it’s 252,171 miles (405,830 kilometers) away.

    It is known as the snow moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, since February is associated with more snowfall in North America. The Arapaho tribe’s name for February’s full moon means “frost sparkling in the sun,” according to a guide compiled at Western Washington University.

    Wintry-sounding names for February’s full moon vary across other Native American tribes. The Comanche call it sleet moon, while the Lakota know it as cannapopa wi, which means “when trees crack because of cold.” The month was also associated with hunger and a lack of food sources, hence the Kalapuya tribe’s moon name atchiulartadsh, or “out of food.”

    Europeans have referred to February’s full moon as the Candles moon, connected to Candlemas on February 2, or the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ. The moon also occurs with the end of Lunar New Year celebrations, which is the Lantern Festival.

    The full moon falls in the middle of the month of Shevat and on the holiday Tu BiShvat on the Hebrew calendar, or “New Year of the Trees,” which is celebrated by planting trees and raising ecological awareness.

    Here are the rest of 2023’s top sky events, so you can have your binoculars and telescope ready.

    Most years, there are 12 full moons — one for each month. But in 2023, there will be 13 full moons, with two in August.

    The second full moon in one month is known as a blue moon, like the phrase “once in a blue moon,” according to NASA. Typically, full moons occur every 29 days. But most months in our calendar last 30 or 31 days, so the months and moon phases don’t always align, resulting in a blue moon about every 2½ years.

    The two full moons in August can also be considered supermoons, according to EarthSky. Definitions of a supermoon vary, but the term generally denotes a full moon that is brighter and closer to Earth than normal and thus appears larger in the night sky.

    Some astronomers say the phenomenon occurs when the moon is within 90% of perigee — its closest approach to Earth in orbit. By that definition, the full moon for July will also be considered a supermoon event, according to EarthSky.

    Here is the list of remaining full moons for 2023, according to the Farmer’s Almanac:

    • March 7: Worm moon
    • April 6: Pink moon
    • May 5: Flower moon
    • June 3: Strawberry moon
    • July 3: Buck moon
    • August 1: Sturgeon moon
    • August 30: Blue moon
    • September 29: Harvest moon
    • October 28: Hunter’s moon
    • November 27: Beaver moon
    • December 26: Cold moon

    These are the popularized names associated with the monthly full moons, but each one carries its own significance across Native American tribes (with many also referred to by differing names).

    Mark your calendar with the peak dates of meteor showers to watch in 2023:

    • Lyrids: April 22-23
    • Eta Aquariids: May 5-6
    • Southern Delta Aquariids: July 30-31
    • Alpha Capricornids: July 30-31
    • Perseids: August 12-13
    • Orionids: October 20-21
    • Southern Taurids: November 4-5
    • Northern Taurids: November 11-12
    • Leonids: November 17-18
    • Geminids: December 13-14
    • Ursids: December 21-22

    If you live in an urban area, you may want to drive to a place that isn’t full of bright city lights to view the showers. If you’re able to find an area unaffected by light pollution, meteors could be visible every couple of minutes from late evening until dawn, depending on which part of the world you’re in.

    Find an open area with a wide view of the sky. Make sure you have a chair or blanket so you can look straight up. And give your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness — without looking at your phone — so the meteors will be easier to spot.

    There will be two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses in 2023.

    A total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, visible to those in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Antarctica. This kind of event occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, blocking out the sun.

    And for some sky watchers in Indonesia, parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea, it will be a hybrid solar eclipse. The curvature of Earth’s surface can cause some eclipses to shift between total and annular as the moon’s shadow moves across the globe, according to NASA.

    Like a total solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth during an annular eclipse — but it occurs when the moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth, according to NASA. This causes the moon to appear smaller than the sun, so it doesn’t completely block out our star and creates a glowing ring around the moon.

    A Western Hemisphere-sweeping annular solar eclipse will occur on October 14 and be visible across the Americas.

    Be sure to wear proper eclipse glasses to view solar eclipses safely as the sun’s light can be damaging to the eyes.

    Meanwhile, a lunar eclipse can occur only during a full moon when the sun, Earth and moon align and the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. When this occurs, Earth casts two shadows on the moon during the eclipse. The partial outer shadow is called the penumbra; the full, dark shadow is the umbra.

    When the full moon moves into Earth’s shadow, it darkens, but it won’t disappear. Instead, sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere lights the moon in a dramatic fashion, turning it red — which is why the event is often referred to as a “blood moon.”

    Depending on the weather conditions in your area, it may be a rusty or brick-colored red. This happens because blue light undergoes stronger atmospheric scattering, so red light will be the most dominant color highlighted as sunlight passes through the atmosphere and casts it on the moon.

    A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on May 5 for those in Africa, Asia and Australia. This less dramatic version of a lunar eclipse happens when the moon moves through the penumbra, or the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow.

    A partial lunar eclipse of the hunter’s moon on October 28 will be visible to those in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America and much of South America. Partial eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon don’t completely align, so only part of the moon passes into shadow.

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  • Two NASA spacecraft detect biggest meteor strikes at Mars

    Two NASA spacecraft detect biggest meteor strikes at Mars

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two NASA spacecraft at Mars — one on the surface and the other in orbit — have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet.

    The high-speed barrages last year sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet, and carved out craters nearly 500 feet (150 meters) across, scientists reported Thursday in the journal Science.

    The larger of the two strikes churned out boulder-size slabs of ice, which may help researchers look for ways future astronauts can tap into Mars’ natural resources.

    The Insight lander measured the seismic shocks, while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided stunning pictures of the resulting craters.

    Imaging the craters “would have been huge already,” but matching it to the seismic ripples was a bonus, said co-author Liliya Posiolova of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. “We were so lucky.”

    Mars’ atmosphere is thin unlike on Earth, where the thick atmosphere prevents most space rocks from reaching the ground, instead breaking and incinerating them.

    A separate study last month linked a recent series of smaller Martian meteoroid impacts with smaller craters closer to InSight, using data from the same lander and orbiter.

    The impact observations come as InSight nears the end of its mission because of dwindling power, its solar panels blanketed by dust storms. InSight landed on the equatorial plains of Mars in 2018 and has since recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes.

    “It’s going to be heartbreaking when we finally lose communication with InSight,” said Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the lander’s chief scientist who took part in the studies. “But the data it has sent us will certainly keep us busy for years to come.”

    Banerdt estimated the lander had between four to eight more weeks before power runs out.

    The incoming space rocks were between 16 feet and 40 feet (5 meters and 12 meters) in diameter, said Posiolova. The impacts registered about magnitude 4.

    The larger of the two struck last December some 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) from InSight, creating a crater roughly 70 feet (21 meters) deep. The orbiter’s cameras showed debris hurled up to 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the impact, as well as white patches of ice around the crater, the most frozen water observed at such low latitudes, Posiolova said.

    Posiolova spotted the crater earlier this year after taking extra pictures of the region from orbit. The crater was missing from earlier photos, and after poring through the archives, she pinpointed the impact to late December. She remembered a large seismic event recorded by InSight around that time and with help from that team, matched the fresh hole to what was undoubtedly a meteoroid strike. The blast wave was clearly visible.

    Scientists also learned the lander and orbiter teamed up for an earlier meteoroid strike, more than double the distance of the December one and slightly smaller.

    “Everybody was just shocked and amazed. Another one? Yep,” she recalled.

    The seismic readings from the two impacts indicate a denser Martian crust beyond InSight’s location.

    “We still have a long way to go to understanding the interior structure and dynamics of Mars, which remain largely enigmatic,” said Doyeon Kim of ETH Zurich’s Institute of Geophysics in Switzerland, who was part of the research.

    Outside scientists said future landers from Europe and China will carry even more advanced seismometers. Future missions will “paint a clearer picture” of how Mars evolved, Yingjie Yang and Xiaofei Chen from China’s Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen wrote in an accompanying editorial.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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