Sky Watching in the Boundary Waters

The dark skies of the Boundary Waters are always great for seeing stars. This time of the year Boundary Waters canoe campers are treated to an even better experience because the annual Perseid meteor shower occurs in August.  This year’s show is expected to peak between the 10-13th of August but a full moon may hinder the ability to see the normal 50 or more meteors per hour at peak times. You never know when the activity will be good so keep watching the sky and plan a BWCA trip for the best viewing.  For more information about the Perseids check out this website.

METEOR ACTIVITY: Meteor activity is increasing as Earth plunges deeper into the debris stream of Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Last night alone, NASA cameras recorded more than a dozen Perseid fireballs along with one sporadic bolide (exploding meteor) that might have dropped pieces of itself over the southeastern USA.   Visit http://spaceweather.com for video and observing tips.

CHANCE OF FLARES: Sunspot AR2130 is directly facing Earth and it has a complex ‘delta-class’ magnetic field that harbors energy for strong flares.  X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).