Stargazers may be in for a treat starting today, when two celestial shows will collide. One of the year’s brightest meteor showers will occur at the same time as a so-called “super moon.”
A “super moon” occurs when the moon reaches its closest orbit to the Earth, making it appear brighter and larger.
But then again, maybe it won’t be such a treat.
“I think people will be hard-pressed to tell this from a regular full moon,” said Charlie Hakes, an assistant professor of physics and engineering at Fort Lewis College and director of the Fort Lewis Observatory. “Unless you put them up next to each other, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
It’s the moon’s elliptical orbit that has its distance from our planet changing so dramatically.
Astronomers say this moon, also called a perigee moon, will be 221,765 miles away from Earth and look 16 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a normal full moon. At its farthest, the moon is about 252,629 miles away. Just two weeks ago, on July 28, the moon was at its apogee, its farthest point from Earth for 2014.
This is the second of three super moons occurring this year. One took place July 10, and the third will be Sept. 8. But they weren’t as super, say, as the one happening overnight tonight.
“Super moons happen every 13 months and can be expected every year,” said Eric Vandernoot, astronomy and physics professor at Florida Atlantic University. “What is interesting about this one is the timing. It’s doing it at the same hour as the moon becomes maximally full.”
The moon’s perigee, the shortest distance from Earth, is occurring only 22 minutes before the moon reaches its full phase at 1:45 a.m. Monday. Such tight timing won’t happen again until 2034.
The best time for moon watchers and photographers to catch the action might be just after sunset as the moon starts to rise, when the moon is set against recognizable landmarks to demonstrate its size, some experts say, despite the fact that the moon will appear its brightest and largest after 1:30 a.m.
The other part of the show, the Perseids, an annual meteor shower, began shooting across the sky Saturday night and will be peaking during the next few days, although the Earth travels through the Perseid field for several weeks.
“The problem is, these things should be happening as far apart as possible for visibility,” said Hakes, who writes The Durango Herald column “What’s Happening in Durango’s Skies?” “Usually the Perseids are pretty good. They do go on for several days, so it depends on how clear, transparent the atmosphere is.”
On a normal night, Hakes said, about 15 meteors fall per hour.
“Mostly, they’re dim, or people aren’t looking in the right direction,’’ he said.
At the height of the Perseids, there can be as many as 80 meteor falls per hour. The place to look is to the northeast, just to the left of the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, to the constellation Perseus.
Fortunately, the Perseids have bright meteors, “so it’s not a complete washout,”said Ben Burress, an astronomer with the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California. “But it won’t be nearly as good as if the moon wasn’t up.”
The moon’s closeness isn’t just showy in the night sky. It also brings extra high and low tides, which can increase the pickings for beachcombers on the coasts.
If nothing else, the super moon brings one advantage.
“It’s nice and bright, and you won’t need a flashlight outside,” Hakes said with a laugh.
The next meteor shower, the Leonids, will peak Nov. 17.
abutler@durangoherald.com. The Associated Press and USA Today contributed to this report.
