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Meteor Showers and Measuring Sunsets
Did you know you can figure out how long until sunset by measuring the sun’s distance from the horizon? Photo courtesy Kristin Kizer.
The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is starting to pick up steam. While it might not be summer’s best shower (that would be the Perseids next month), the Delta Aquarids do provide stargazers better odds of seeing “shooting stars”. The name Delta Aquarids comes from the location in space that the meteors seem to emanate from, the Delta star in Aquarius. While stray meteors can happen at any time, clusters of meteors that result from Earth plowing into an old trail of debris left behind by a comet or asteroid is what creates meteor showers. The parent comet for the Delta Aquarid meteor shower has never been found. Expect the peak activity in this shower to occur overnight from July 28 to 29.
Over the next week, the moon meets a planet and a couple of bright stars. On July 24 and 25, Saturn is the bright point of light near the moon. The planet’s rings are closing fast, making them nearly invisible in small telescopes. July 27 the moon moves into position next to Spica, and on the last two nights of the month the moon is found near Antares.
The moon is a half degree across, which means that your pinky held at arm’s length will completely obscure it. The moon moves about 13 degrees from one night to the next. This is why each night the moon appears to be visiting a new stellar object.
Once you get good at measuring and understanding degrees, you can figure out how long until sunset by measuring the sun’s distance from the horizon. The sun moves about 15 degrees across the sky in an hour. Extend your arm out with your hand in a fist, and then stretch your pinky and index finger out and apart. The distance between them measures 15 degrees of sky. If you line your pinky up with the horizon and the sun is at your index finger, you can expect approximately one more hour until sunset.
Posted by:
SC Trails on
July 24, 2009 at
9:50AM PST
Did you know you can figure out how long until sunset by measuring the sun’s distance from the horizon? Photo courtesy Kristin Kizer.The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is starting to pick up steam. While it might not be summer’s best shower (that would be the Perseids next month), the Delta Aquarids do provide stargazers better odds of seeing “shooting stars”. The name Delta Aquarids comes from the location in space that the meteors seem to emanate from, the Delta star in Aquarius. While stray meteors can happen at any time, clusters of meteors that result from Earth plowing into an old trail of debris left behind by a comet or asteroid is what creates meteor showers. The parent comet for the Delta Aquarid meteor shower has never been found. Expect the peak activity in this shower to occur overnight from July 28 to 29.
Over the next week, the moon meets a planet and a couple of bright stars. On July 24 and 25, Saturn is the bright point of light near the moon. The planet’s rings are closing fast, making them nearly invisible in small telescopes. July 27 the moon moves into position next to Spica, and on the last two nights of the month the moon is found near Antares.
The moon is a half degree across, which means that your pinky held at arm’s length will completely obscure it. The moon moves about 13 degrees from one night to the next. This is why each night the moon appears to be visiting a new stellar object.
Once you get good at measuring and understanding degrees, you can figure out how long until sunset by measuring the sun’s distance from the horizon. The sun moves about 15 degrees across the sky in an hour. Extend your arm out with your hand in a fist, and then stretch your pinky and index finger out and apart. The distance between them measures 15 degrees of sky. If you line your pinky up with the horizon and the sun is at your index finger, you can expect approximately one more hour until sunset.
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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com.
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Posted by: drain on July 30, 2009 5:56PM PST
Thanks for the time measuring tip. I've always had a vague sense it should be doable, but never looked for an answer :-)
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