Astrotourism—chasing eclipses, meteor showers and elusive dark skies from Earth

For years, small teams of astronomy fanatics have traveled the globe chasing the uncommon solar eclipse. They’ve launched into cruises to the center of the ocean, taken flights into the eclipse’s path and even traveled to Antarctica. In August 2017, hundreds of thousands throughout the U.S. witnessed a total solar eclipse seen from Oregon to South Carolina, with a partial eclipse seen to the remainder of the continental U.S.

The curiosity in astronomical occasions that this eclipse sparked will doubtless return with two eclipses visible in the U.S. in the course of the subsequent yr—the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023, and the total eclipse on April 8, 2024. However astro-tourism—touring to nationwide parks, observatories or different pure, dark-sky areas to view astronomical occasions—is not restricted simply to chasing eclipses.

In line with a current examine, 80% of Americans and one-third of the planet’s population can not see the Milky Way from their houses because of light pollution. As a consequence, most individuals must journey to witness meteor showers and different widespread astronomical occasions.

I am a space scientist with a ardour for instructing physics and astronomy and photographing the evening sky. Each summer time I spend a number of nights backpacking within the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, the place the skies are sufficiently darkish to permit the Milky Way to be seen with the bare eye. My son and I additionally prefer to take street journeys—typically alongside U.S. 395, the Jap Sierra Scenic Byway—that coincide with eclipses and meteor showers.

Cannot miss astronomical occasions

There are two varieties of eclipses. Lunar eclipses happen when the full moon passes by means of Earth’s shadow. Solar eclipses happen when the brand new moon briefly blocks the sun.

There are three varieties of solar eclipses. Throughout a total eclipse, the moon utterly covers the sun, with totality, or the time throughout which the sun is totally eclipsed, lasting so long as seven minutes. Throughout totality, these within the path of the eclipse will see the sun’s corona, or its outer environment, behind the moon’s silhouette.

The moon’s orbit across the Earth is an ellipse, so the moon can look like 15% smaller when it is at its farthest level from Earth, its apogee, in contrast with its measurement when it’s at its closest level to Earth, its perigee. An annular eclipse happens when the moon would not cowl all the disk of the sun, leaving a hoop of daylight across the moon.

Lastly, a partial eclipse happens when the moon blocks solely part of the sun’s disk, because the title implies.

Meteor showers are a much more widespread astronomical occasion than eclipses, and they’re seen from any dark-sky location on Earth. Meteor showers happen when Earth’s orbit across the sun takes it by means of the dust left behind by a comet. The Earth sweeps up the dust like a automobile rushing by means of a cloud of bugs on the freeway.

Meteor showers are named for the constellations from which the meteors seem to emanate, although it isn’t essential to stare in that route to see meteors. Probably the most distinguished meteor showers, occurring on roughly the identical dates yearly, are the Perseids, named for the constellation Perseus and peaking on the evening of Aug. 12-13; the Geminids, named for the constellation Gemini, on Dec. 14-15; and the Lyrids, named for the constellation Lyra, on April 21-22. The evening sky will probably be largely moonless for the primary two this yr, however a virtually full moon will make the Lyrid bathe of 2024 tough to see.

Ideas for aspiring astro-tourists

Probably the most necessary components to contemplate when planning an outing to stargaze or to observe a meteor bathe is the phase of the moon. The full moon rises at about 6 p.m. and units at 6 a.m., making stargazing all however unattainable due to its brightness. For ultimate stargazing circumstances, the moon ought to be beneath the horizon, and the most effective viewing circumstances are throughout new moon. You need to use a moonrise/moonset calculator to find out the phase of the moon and its rise and set instances for any location on Earth.

One other necessary issue is climate. Beginner astronomers all the time joke that the sky is cloudy throughout probably the most fascinating astronomical occasions. For instance, most main cities within the U.S. which might be within the path of the April 2024 eclipse have had cloudy skies on April 8 60% of the time for the reason that yr 2000.

Most People dwell in closely light-polluted areas. A light pollution map corresponding to lightpollutionmap.info may help determine the closest dark-sky location, which, in my case, is hours away. These maps typically use the Bortle dark-sky scale, which reviews 1 for terribly darkish skies to 9 for extremely light-polluted metropolis facilities.

Although you should still see the brightest meteors from metropolis suburbs, the darker your sky, the extra meteors you may see. Generally, count on to see fewer than 25 meteors per hour. To see the advanced construction of the Milky Way with the bare eye, search for a location with a Bortle index of three or beneath.

It is necessary to reach at your chosen web site early, ideally throughout daylight. Stumbling round at the hours of darkness at an unfamiliar web site is a recipe for catastrophe and can also disturb others who’re already on the web site. Arriving early additionally provides time to your eyes to adapt to the darkish as evening falls, because it sometimes takes half-hour and even longer to your eyes to succeed in their full dark-adapted potential.

Be sure that to hold a headlamp or flashlight that has a pink mild setting, as pink mild doesn’t ruin night vision. Keep away from utilizing your telephone, as even a look on the display can spoil your eyes’ darkish adaptation. In the event you’re utilizing a sky-viewing app, change the app to nighttime mode.

Plan forward should you’re pondering of touring to view one of many eclipses seen within the U.S. subsequent yr. In the event you’re within the path of the eclipse, keep put! In the event you’re touring, staying on the identical location in a single day earlier than and after the eclipse may help keep away from the hourslong traffic jams skilled by eclipse watchers in 2017.

Additionally, it’s best to by no means have a look at the sun immediately with the naked eye, even during a total eclipse. You may want a pair of cheap eclipse glasses to observe and totally benefit from the eclipse, however get yours early, as many shops ran out of glasses in the course of the 2017 eclipse.

Regardless of the place you journey in the course of the subsequent yr, remember to search for at evening and marvel at the great thing about the night sky away from metropolis lights.

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