Space Station Threshold

Meteor showers are great fun. The streaks and flashes create a special type of astronomical fireworks. But there are some people out there who enjoy meteor showers in a different way. They don't watch the meteors. Instead, they watch the moon. There are fireworks there, too, in the form [...]

Having the New Moon on our side may very well increase your chances of catching a well established meteor shower which is now reaching its peak activity time - the Eta Aquarids. No matter where you live or what time zone you observe from, the best time to look for the offspring of Halley's [...]

There’s another two odd meteor showers about to happen. It’s just after Full Moon. Why bother to take a look at the night sky when chances are poor of seeing a meteor? The reason is clear and the cause is confirmation.

Many lucky people in the Pacific Northwest United States got the treat of a lifetime on Tuesday morning. A bright fireball blazed across the sky at 5:31 am near Portland, Oregon. Apparently the meteor was so bright, people saw it in Washington, Idaho, and even as far away as British Columbia (hey, why didn't I [...]

Since Google and NASA have recently joined hands, the merger has become a major asset to space research due to the successful combination of ideas and plans. The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is just one primary example of this success–a meteor shower that produced over 100 meteors per hour. This peak shower began around 020 UTC [...]

Every day, material is raining down on the Earth. Fortunately, we've got an atmosphere to protect us. As the tiny particles impact the atmosphere, air piles up in front of them, heating up, and blazing a trail in the sky. That's a meteor. According to a team of Japanese researchers, as the micrometeoroids rain down, [...]

I just wanted to give you all another gentle reminder about the Aurigid Meteor Shower, due to light the heavens on September 1st, 2007. Although the shower won't peak until early tomorrow morning, astrophotographer John Chumack has already captured one on camera, and made a little video of its path through the skies. Now, we [...]