Get set for a show
Perseid meteor shower lights heavens in August
The Perseid meteor shower, known to rise to a peak gradually over several weeks, will be best viewed in Nova Scotia Aug. 13 to 15.
If the sight of meteors dancing across the night sky are to your taste, you’ll have lots to look at over the next few weeks.
But you may have to wait for this month’s extraordinarily shiny moon to wane to see them.
Halifax astronomer David Lane says this year the Perseid meteor shower, known to rise to a peak gradually over several weeks and then fall off rapidly, will be best viewed in Nova Scotia Aug. 13 to 15.
The moon is on the wane, but “it’s a bright moon,” Lane said in an interview from his sailboat on Mahone Bay.
And you ought to look for the darkest of skies for the best viewing.
“To see anything, get out of the city,” he said.
“Look northeast towards Perseus in the darkest part of the sky or lie back, look overhead and wait. When you see a meteor falling – every two minutes on average – follow the line back.”
Every year, from mid-July to Aug. 24, the Earth crosses the orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, the parent of the Perseid meteor shower. Debris from this comet litters the line of its orbit, but the thick of the comet rubble razing doesn’t happen until after the first week of August. The bits and pieces from Comet Swift-Tuttle slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere at some 210,000 kilometres per hour, lighting up the
night with fast-moving Perseid meteors as often as 50 times an hour.
One of the darkest skies to be found in all of North America is at Kejimkujik National Park, a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Dark Sky Preserve. On Nova Scotia’s South Shore, the inland park is 166 kilometres from Halifax.
This year, admission is free marking Canada’s 150th birthday.
In the heart of Kejimkujik’s wilderness, the night sky is free from artificial light sources much as it was when indigenous Mi’kmaq people experienced the skies of Kejimkujik thousands of years ago; in spectacular, natural darkness.
The weekends of Aug. 11-13 and Sept. 22-24 are special Dark Sky Weekends. Designated a Dark Sky Preserve in 2010, Kejimkujik’s skies provide an incredible view
of the stars, planets, galaxies, and constellations.
The Sky Circle in Jeremy’s Bay, the primary observing site, is located near the campground and is the primary location for Dark Sky programs and events.
You can camp in the park or stay overnight close by.
Parks Canada interpreters will be joined by members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) to guide viewers during the weekends.
Visitors can visit the Sky Circle at any time during the season, however, interpretation and access to special night sky telescopes takes place on the weekend. In addition, there are Dark Sky Kits available for rent at the visitor centre that contain everything you need to enjoy the night sky wherever you want inside the park.