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Look up! The Perseids, one of the year's best meteor showers, peaks next week. – Yahoo News Canada

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Look up! The Perseids, one of the year’s best meteor showers, peaks next week.

One of the best shows in the night sky is coming up next week. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday night, and this year it is not to be missed!

Right now, as Earth travels along its orbit around the Sun, the planet is passing through a stream of debris left behind by a comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle. This comet only passes through the inner solar system once every 133 years or so. However, each year we are treated to a reminder that it’s out there, as Earth sweeps up the bits of icy debris it leaves behind on each pass. When these tiny bits of ice and rock plunge into the atmosphere, they produce the streaks of light we call the Perseid meteor shower.

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In this 30-second exposure taken with a circular fish-eye lens, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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According to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), under ideal conditions, observers typically see anywhere from 50-75 meteors per hour during the Perseids peak, which occurs around the 12th of August every year. Sometimes, this shower can deliver as many as 100 meteors per hour or more.

The Perseids radiant — where the meteors appear to originate from — is located in the northern sky, near the constellation Perseus. It never sets below the horizon at this time of year. So, rather than having to wait for the radiant to rise during the night, we can start watching for Perseids as soon as the Sun has completely set.

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The location of the Perseids radiant at around midnight on August 11-12. Credit: Stellarium/Scott Sutherland

Even now, a week before the meteor shower peak, viewers can see perhaps 10-20 Perseids per hour throughout the night. The peak on August 11-12 is the absolute best night to watch. If skies are cloudy that night or the timing isn’t good, NASA says that the most likely time to see meteors, otherwise, is a couple of days on either side of the peak.

Whatever night you get out to watch, the best time to see the Perseids during the night is usually in the hours between midnight and dawn. That is when the sky tends to be the darkest. Also, the meteor shower radiant is high in the sky at that time, which means that we are looking more or less straight into the path of the meteoroid stream.

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This graph shows the average Perseid meteor activity from 2014-2020. Credits: Graph and background image courtesy NASA

This year, viewing will likely be better than we’ve seen for the past few years, due to the Moon. With the shower peaking only a few days after the New Moon, there will only be a thin crescent Moon in the sky that night, which will set just a few hours after nightfall. This will leave behind a nice dark night sky, which will make it easier for us to see the show!

Read on for tips on how to get the most out of watching a meteor shower.

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

Meteor showers happen when Earth encounters a stream of ice, dust, and rock left behind from a comet (or sometimes a special kind of asteroid). As Earth sweeps through the stream, the bits of debris plunge into the planet’s atmosphere, travelling anywhere from 54,000 to 255,000 kilometres per hour. At that speed, these meteoroids compress the air molecules in their path, squeezing them together until they glow white-hot.

The bigger the piece of debris, the brighter and longer-lasting the meteor will be.

Watch below: Dozens of Perseid fireballs captured by NASA in 2020

Click here to view the video

The Perseids occur every year between July 17 and August 26, as Earth passes through the stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. 109P/Swift-Tuttle was last seen in the inner solar system in 1992. Right now, it’s far out in the solar system, near the orbit of Neptune, and still headed even farther out. It will return in late 2125.

METEOR? METEOROID? METEORITE?

The bright streaks seen from these showers are called meteors.

A meteoroid is a piece of dust, rock or ice floating through space, left over from the formation of our solar system. The smallest – only a few millimetres wide – tend to be called __micrometeoroids. Anything larger than a metre in diameter is usually called an asteroid.

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Meteoroid-Meteor-Meteorite-NASA-ROM-Scott Sutherland

A primer on meteoroids, meteors and meteorites. Credits: Scott Sutherland/NASA JPL (Asteroids Ida & Dactyl)/NASA Earth Observatory (Blue Marble)

The more massive an object is as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, the brighter the resulting meteor will be. The brightest are called fireballs, while a fireball that ends with an explosion is known as a bolide.

Some fireballs and bolides result in bits of the meteoroid reaching to the ground. When these are found, they are called meteorites.

Related: Got your hands on a space rock? Here’s how to know for sure

SPECTACULAR PERSEIDS

The Perseids are one of the strongest meteor showers of the entire year, and this alone makes it worth watching. However, there are two other ways this meteor shower distinguishes itself.

First, it has the most fireball meteors of any annual shower.

In the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Observer’s Handbook 2021, Philip McClausland writes “Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to light up a wide area and attract public attention.”

Watch below: An all-sky camera captures a brilliant Perseid fireball

Click here to view the video

The second is the ability of some Perseid meteors to leave behind a phenomenon known as a persistent train.

Meteors typically flash for a second and are gone. Fireballs can last up to 10 seconds. Every once in a while, though, a meteor will leave behind a trail of glowing ‘smoke’. These can remain visible for up to several minutes or possibly for more than an hour.

Spotting persistent trains is pretty common, depending on the meteor shower. They have only rarely been recorded, though. Studies of them go back decades, but there is little hard evidence to study the phenomenon. Still, scientists have narrowed their cause to one of two likely reasons: ionization or chemiluminescence.

Ionization means that an atom or molecule gains or loses electrons and thus takes on a negative or positive charge. In the case of a persistent train, a fast-moving meteoroid strips away electrons from air molecules along their path. When these ionized molecules pick up a stray electron to balance out their charge, they release a small burst of light.

Chemiluminescence is the production of light through a chemical reaction. When metals like iron and nickel vaporize off the surface of a meteoroid, they can chemically react with ozone and oxygen to produce a glow. Since these processes take much longer than the original meteor flash, the train can persist for some time after the flash goes out.

Watch below to see a persistent train produced by a December Geminids meteor

One of these explanations may account for these glowing trains, or both may cover different occurrences, at different times, and even between individual meteors. It will apparently take more sightings and recordings of this phenomenon to explain them fully.

Related: Want to find a meteorite? Expert Geoff Notkin tells us how!

TIPS FOR WATCHING A METEOR SHOWER

Here is an essential guide on how to get the most out of meteor shower events.

First off, there’s no need to have a telescope or binoculars to watch a meteor shower. Those are great if you want to check out other objects in the sky at the same time — such as Jupiter and Saturn, which are up all night these days. When watching a meteor shower, though, telescopes and binoculars actually make it harder to see the event because they restrict your field of view.

Here’s the three things needed for watching meteor showers:

  • Clear skies,

  • Dark skies, and

  • Patience.

Even a few hours of cloudy skies can ruin an attempt to see a meteor shower. Since the weather is continually changing, be sure to check for updates on The Weather Network on TV, on our website, or from our app.

Living in cities makes it very difficult to see meteor showers. Those living in suburban areas, with dark back yards shielded from street lights by trees and surrounding houses, may see the brightest meteors. Rural areas offer the best viewing, though, as they are far away from city light pollution.

For most Canadians, simply driving out into the surrounding rural areas is usually good enough to get under dark skies. However, if you live anywhere from Windsor to Quebec City, that will be more difficult. Unfortunately, getting far enough outside of one city to escape its light pollution tends to put you under the light pollution dome of the next city over.

Watch below: What light pollution is doing to city views of the Milky Way

Click here to view the video

In these areas, there are a few dark sky preserves. A skywatcher’s best bet for dark skies is usually to drive north and seek out the various Ontario provincial parks or Quebec provincial parks. Even if you’re confined to the parking lot, after hours, these are usually excellent locations to watch (and you don’t run the risk of trespassing on someone’s property).

Once you have verified you have clear skies, and you have limited your exposure to light pollution, this is where having patience comes in.

For best viewing, give your eyes time to adapt to the dark. Typically, this takes about 30 minutes of avoiding any sources of bright light (includes cellphone screens). Just looking up into the sky during this time works fine, and you may even catch some of the brighter meteors in the process.

Lastly, the graphics presented for meteor showers often give a ‘radiant’ point on the field of stars, showing from where the meteors appear to originate. Meteors can flash through the sky anywhere above your head, though. So, don’t focus on any particular point in the sky. Instead, just look straight up and take in as much of the sky as you can, all at once. Also, since our peripheral vision tends to be better at night, you may be surprised at how many meteors you can catch from the corner of your eye!

For more, visit the websites of the Canadian Space Agency and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).

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New England College of Optometry Issues Safety Advisory for Solar Eclipse – New England College of Optometry

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NECO Issues Safety Advisory for Solar Eclipse – New England College of Optometry


Watching the celestial event safely is possible with the right equipment and some preparation.

With the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, the New England College of Optometry (NECO) urges the general public to observe this celestial phenomenon safely. Solar eclipses are rare events that spark widespread interest and excitement. To ensure everyone can enjoy the eclipse without risking their vision, NECO is sharing crucial guidelines for proper viewing.  

“Solar eclipses present a wonderful opportunity for communities to engage with astronomy, but it’s vital that safety is a  priority,” says George Asimellis, PhD, Msc, MBA, Professor of Vision Science at NECO. “Viewing a solar eclipse without appropriate protection can result in solar retinopathy, which can cause lasting damage to the eyes. You must take proper precautions to view the eclipse.” PLEASE NOTE: NECO recommends that individuals who have recently undergone eye surgery or who have chronic eye conditions should refrain from viewing the eclipse. 

Student helps patient pick glasses frame

To prevent eye injuries and ensure a memorable experience, NECO advises the following: 

  • Always use solar viewing glasses. “When gearing up to watch the magical solar eclipse, it’s important to use specialized solar filters known as ‘eclipse glasses,’” says Alina Reznik, OD ’16, NECO Alumni Liaison. “These viewers adhere to the international safety standard ISO 12312-2 for safe viewing.” The ISO certification should be visible somewhere on the product. Ordinary sunglasses, even those with UV protection, are NOT safe for looking directly at the sun. They transmit thousands of times too much sunlight to be used for solar viewing.
  • If you wish to capture the event, do not look at the sun through camera viewfinders or phone cameras, as this can also lead to serious eye damage and can even destroy a phone. 
  • The safest way to view the eclipse is to create a camera obscura by finding a piece of cardboard and piercing a small hole in the center. With your back to the sun, hold the cardboard at shoulder height. In your other hand, hold a sheet of paper and align it with the cardboard until you see a tiny image of the sun projected onto the surface of the paper. You can even put cardboard around the “screen” to block out ambient light and see the eclipse image more clearly.

NECO will host an eclipse viewing party on Monday, April 8, from 2:00-4:00pm at their main campus located at 424 Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay. Media are welcome to attend and receive a free pair of eclipse viewing glasses. Faculty will be present to talk about the science behind safely viewing an eclipse.

The map below (courtesy of NASA) shows the eclipse’s path of totality.

For those who reside outside the path of totality: The Boston area is outside the eclipse’s path of totality. However, we will be able to view a partial eclipse starting at about 2:10pm. Our area will experience moderate darkness and a drop in temperature during the partial eclipse, which will last two hours. Eclipse glasses must still be used to protect  your eyes from the harmful rays of the sun, even during a partial eclipse!

Our vision experts are available for comment and additional information on eye care during this astronomical event. Please contact our Marketing Department by calling (617) 587-5609, or email [email protected].

For more information from national experts on the April 8 solar eclipse, visit NASA or the American Optometric Association.

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Global wildlife study during COVID-19 shows rural animals are more sensitive to human activity

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Plant-eating animals more active, carnivores more cautious around humans 

One of the largest studies on wildlife activity—involving more than 220 researchers, 163 mammal species and 5,000 camera traps worldwide—reveals that wild animals react differently to humans depending on where the animals live and what they eat.

Bigger herbivores—plant-eating animals like deer or moose—tend to become more active when humans are around, while meat-eaters like wolves or wolverines tend to be less active, preferring to avoid risky encounters.

Urban animals like deer or raccoons may become more active around people, as they get used to human presence and find food like garbage or plants, which they can access at night. But animals living farther from cities and other developed areas are more wary of encountering people.

Wildlife during the pandemic ‘anthropause’

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Dr. Cole Burton

The new study, a collaboration across researchers from 161 institutions, used data from before and during the COVID-19 lockdowns to examine wildlife behaviour amid changing human activity levels.

“COVID-19 mobility restrictions gave researchers a truly unique opportunity to study how animals responded when the number of people sharing their landscape changed drastically over a relatively short period,” said lead author Dr. Cole Burton, an associate professor of forest resources management at UBC and Canada Research Chair in Terrestrial Mammal Conservation.

“And contrary to the popular narratives that emerged around that time, we did not see an overall pattern of ‘wildlife running free’ while humans sheltered in place. Rather, we saw great variation in activity patterns of people and wildlife, with the most striking trends being that animal responses depended on landscape conditions and their position in the food chain.”

In Canada, researchers monitoring areas such as Banff and Pacific Rim national parks, Cathedral, Golden Ears and South Chilcotin Mountains provincial parks, and the Sea-to-Sky corridor in B.C. found that carnivores like wolverines, wolves and cougars were generally less active when human activity was higher.

In several of these parks, and in cities such as Edmonton, large herbivores often increased their activity but became more nocturnal with the presence of more humans. Large carnivores were notably absent from the most human-dominated landscapes.

A coyote warily investigating a camera trap in Malcolm Knapp Research
Forest, British Columbia, Canada. Photo credit: Dr. Cole Burton, UBC WildCo

Preventing conflict through smart conservation measures

These findings highlight the importance of measures to minimize any detrimental effects of human disturbance on wildlife, including reducing overlaps that might lead to conflict.

Dr. Kaitlyn Gaynor

“In remote areas with limited human infrastructure, the effects of our actual presence on wildlife may be particularly strong. To give wild animals the space they need, we may consider setting aside protected areas or movement corridors free of human activity, or consider seasonal restrictions, like temporary closures of campsites or hiking trails during migratory or breeding seasons,” said study co-author and UBC biologist Dr. Kaitlyn Gaynor.

She added that strategies must also fit specific species and locations. In more remote areas, keeping human activity low will be necessary to protect sensitive species. In areas where people and animals overlap more, such as cities, nighttime is an important refuge for wildlife, and keeping it that way can help species survive. Efforts may focus on reducing human-wildlife conflict after dark, such as more secure storage of trash bins to reduce the number of animals getting into human food sources, or use of road mitigation measures to reduce vehicle collisions.

The findings are particularly useful amid the surge in global travel and outdoor recreation post-pandemic, Dr. Burton added.

“Understanding how wildlife respond to human activity in various contexts helps us develop effective conservation plans that have local and global impact. For that reason, we are working to improve wildlife monitoring systems using tools like the camera traps that made it possible to observe animal behaviours during the pandemic.”

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Three Canadian Student CubeSats Set for ISS Launch

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Longueuil, Quebec, – On , three CubeSats designed and built by Canadian students will launch to the International Space Station (ISS).This is the fourth and final launch of miniature satellites under the Canadian CubeSat Project. The teams finalized preparations of their CubeSats in at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The teams are:

  • QMSat – Université de Sherbrooke
  • Killick-1 – Memorial University
  • VIOLET – University of New Brunswick

Live coverage of the launch will air on NASA Live.

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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