Perseids Meteor Shower 2024

 The peak night of the Perseids Meteor Shower in 2024 is August 12 which is Tisha B'Av this year. There is also a waxing moon which gets bigger and brighter every night after new moon on the 6th. Its bright light blocks the light of dimmer objects like meteors. The moon sets before midnight up to the 12th but one hour later each night thereafter. Starting August 13 the moon is first quarter and starts getting quite bright, blocking the light of dimmer meteors.  Best viewing of the meteor shower is after midnight. Most families don't stay through the wee hours of the night but you are welcome to.

The radiating effect of meteors all originating from a single location in the sky called the "radiant". In the case of the Perseids Meteor Shower from the constellation Perseus, the hero who rescued Andromeda.

So what will you see? On a typical year on the peak night many meteors. You probably read numbers of 60-100 per hour, making this one of the best meteor showers of the year. But honestly I have only seen that many once in my life from Mitzpe Ramon. Off peak, which is about 2:00am on the morning of August 13 (Tisha B'Av this year), there are still many more meteors seen than on the average night (maybe 1-2 during a 2 hour star tour, maybe none) but nothing like the peak. The more days off the peak the fewer number of meteors. In addition the waxing moon starts to interfere after August 13. 

As you can see, the peak of the Perseids is very steep, rapidly falling off on either side of the peak on the early morning of August 13.

We will not be going out on Tisha B'Av, so the best time to view on our star tour is August 6 (new moon) through August 11. The closer to August 11 the better. 

This year Mitzpe Ramon turns off its lights on August 11, although we go into the Ramon Crater to observe. August 13-15 are good but because of the waxing moon not as good as August 6-11. August 11 is the best alternative to August 12. 

To get information and book a tour: https://www.bookeo.com/astronomyisrael 

If you would like to see an animation of the way the Earth's orbit intersects the debris trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which creates the Perseids Meteor Shower, click here. The Earth's orbit is blue: https://www.meteorshowers.org/view/Perseids

The most popular place to view the meteor shower is the Ramon Crater but literally tens of thousands of people come there on a good year. Well known dark locations are usually crowded everywhere.

Keep on looking up!☝🏻

Chanukah Star Tour Adventure

 With Chanukah🕎  approaching the Festival of Light will not affect dark skies in Mitzpe Ramon. The candles will blaze bright but we will still have our dark skies. Take a little time to star gaze with Astronomy Israel and /Ira Machefsky, the Starman of Mitzpe Ramon™ 💫. We will have star tours at 6:30pm every night of Chanukah (7:30pm on motzei Shabbat), December 9-18.

This is the week of the peak of the Geminids meteor shower which puts on the best display of the year. Many shooting stars explode like fireworks at the end of their fall. Perfect for Chanukah. See if you can count at least 8! Peak night of the meteor shower is December 14-15 but is usually well seen throughout the week. Also featured will be the best telescopic views of Jupiter and Saturn. Come see Saturn before the rings turn edge on next year and disappear for 18 months. 😢

Star tours are suitable for all ages and are handicap friendly.

To get information and book a tour: https://www.bookeo.com/astronomyisrael 

Star tour shenanigans will include light saber duels (what could be better on Chanukah), 2100 year old Chasmanoyim chocolate Chanukah gelt and a specially minted double flag Astronomy Israel/Israeli flag commemorative pin. (One per family until stock runs out.)

ASTRONOMY ISRAEL/ISRAELI FLAG COMMEMORATIVE PIN 

To get information and book a tour: https://www.bookeo.com/astronomyisrael

Perseids Meteor Shower 2023

The peak of the Perseids Meteor Shower will occur on the nights of August 12 and August 13, 2023. The predicted peak is between the hours of 10:00AM IDT - 5:00PM IDT on August 13, daylight hours in Israel. So the night of Saturday August 12 and Sunday August 13 are equally good for peak observing.

For people who can't make it on peak nights I always am asked what will the shower look like on nights either side of the peak. The Perseids has a very sharp peak on a single night of 100 meteors per hour. On nights off peak the rate quickly drops to 1/10th that, around 10 meteors per hour. (See graph below.)

The x-axis shows dates of the month, the y-axis shows zenithal hourly rate (ZHR), which is the theoretical maximum number of meteors you can see per hour lying on the ground, staring straight up, and looking in all directions simultaneously. This chart gives the average numbers from 2014-2020. As you can see, the numbers fall off rapidly away from the peak. Nevertheless, experience shows that the Perseids do not disappoint around 5 days before and 5 days after the peak, while not putting on as good a show as the peak night.

Best viewing is always after midnight, and this year there is a very tiny, waning crescent moon rising at 2:00AM on the 12th and about an hour later on each succeeding night, so it will not pose a problem.

The Perseids has become a phenomenon and this year there are many programs, star parties, and star shows in and around Mitzpe Ramon. As they are mostly in Hebrew search for them on social media in that language or search engines in that language.

I will have my own star tours the week before and after the peak, but not on the night of the peak,  August 12. In past years over 30,000 people have descended on Mitzpe Ramon for the peak night. Traffic can be jammed up on Rt 40 all the way back to Be'er Sheva. So, check Waze before heading down to see what your drive time will be. Because of all the people, cars, noise, camp fires in and around town I choose not to go out on the night of the 12th. I will be having my star tours on all other nights except Shabbat. To get information and book a tour: https://www.bookeo.com/astronomyisrael 

If you do not already have accomodations reserved you will probably find them all sold out. Check for them on this web site at the Places To Stay tab.

For some unusual information about the Perseids see here: https://www.meteorshowers.org/?fbclid=IwAR2JlUAZynbq5PGAemxADzd1OV42Q9Obq5piXT1jNESyY3Fguu4OChAjPyo

Conjunction of Saturn and Venus

Saturn and Venus will be in close conjunction with each other on the night of Sunday January 22 and the rest of that week. Conjunction appears when the planets are closest together in our line of sight.

On January 22 the two planets are just 1/3° apart at sunset, less than the diameter of a full moon. On that night Saturn will be just above Venus. By the next night, January 23, Venus will have moved upward and will be above Saturn. It will be joined on the 23rd by a beautiful new moon crescent, making a spectacular tableau.

To see them look westward toward the sunset point starting at 5:30pm. Venus will be unmistakable in its brightness with Saturn very close by but much dimmer. Binoculars will help, but not necessary. You will only be able to see the rings of Saturn with a telescope, otherwise they are just points of light.  Y 6:30pm they will have set and disappeared below the horizon, so you just have a 1 hour time window to view the beautiful sight.

During the conjunction you have the opportunity to see all 4 of the naked eye planets. To the upper left of Venus and Saturn is bright Jupiter, almost as bright as Venus and nearly overhead is bright red Mars. Mercury will not be visible, so 4 out of the 5 naked eye planets at once, not too shabby.

Saturn and Venus on January 22, 2023

Saturn and Venus on January 23, 2023

My poor smartphone photo of Saturn and Venus on Saturday night January 21 about 6:15pm, setting over Machtesh Ramon. 

Jedi Star Man wishes you Happy Succoth!

Tau Herculids Meteor Storm Watch May 30-31

Star trippers! Keep an eye out the night of May 30-31, Monday night through Tuesday morning. A heretofore unseen stream of meteors may create a meteor STORM, not shower during which dozens of meterors per SECOND may pummel earth. Or not. No one knows for sure until the earth crosses the path of Comet SW3. The peak, if it occurs, is expected at 8:00am IDT the morning of May 31, during daylight hours. (1:00am EDT ON May 31 in the US). So the most favorable time to view in Israel is closest to dawn the morning of May 31, before dawn's light. Good luck to the world on this event!

More details here: Tau Herculids Meteor Storm