Author Archives

Robert Lunsford

Robert Lunsford

Bob has been interested in the stars as far back as he can recall His first experience with meteors was a biggie, the 1966 Leonid shower. In 1980, a major awaking occurred. He received a sample copy of Meteor News. He was amazed to learn there was a group actually devoted strictly to meteor observing! He joined the group also started to view some of the minor showers list among the pages of Meteor News. Lastly, he was contracted by Springer Publishing in 2007 to write a book on observing meteors. The book is now available and hopefully will be a useful guide to all interested in the enjoyable field of meteor observing.

Meteor Activity Outlook for October 3-9, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Friday October 9th. At that time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises near 23:00 local daylight saving time (LDST). For this weekend and most of next week the bright waning gibbous moon will rise during the evening hours and will spoil any chance of seeing much meteor activity. Toward the end of the week a window of dark will will occur between dusk and moon rise. Unfortunately meteor activity is near its lowest point of the night during this time.

by - Oct 5, 2020 - 2

Meteor Activity Outlook for September 26-October 2, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Thursday October 1st. At that time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the waxing gibbous moon will set during the early morning hours, allowing a few hours of observations under dark skies between moon set and dawn.

by - Sep 25, 2020 - 2

Meteor Activity Outlook for September 19-25, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Wednesday September 23rd. At this time, the half-illuminated moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near 2300 local daylight saving time (LDST). This weekend the waxing crescent moon will set during the early evening hours and will not interfere with meteor observing.

by - Sep 18, 2020 - 3

Meteor Activity Outlook for September 12-18, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Thursday September 17th. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours and will not be too much of a nuisance as long as you keep it out of your field of view while observing.

by - Sep 11, 2020 - 1

Viewing the 2020 September epsilon Perseids

Normally, the September epsilon Perseids meteor shower (SPE) produce a peak of around 5 meteors per hour at maximum. This year, with a 60 percent illuminated moon rising near 22:30 (10:30pm) local summer time, one could easily dismiss the probably of seeing anything extraordinary from this source.

by - Sep 8, 2020 - 4

Meteor Activity Outlook for September 5-11, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Thursday September 10th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises near 23:00 local daylight saving time (LDST) on September 9th. This weekend the waning gibbous moon will rise during the early evening hours and will spoil the viewing for the remainder of the night.

by - Sep 4, 2020 -

Meteor Activity Outlook for August 29-September 4, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Thursday September 3rd. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the waxing gibbous moon will set during the early morning hours, allowing a short opportunity to view meteor activity prior to dawn.

by - Aug 28, 2020 - 4

Meteor Activity Outlook for August 22-28, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Wednesday August 26th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets between midnight and 0100 local daylight saving time (LDST). This weekend the waxing crescent moon will set during the early evening hours and will not interfere with the more active morning hours.

by - Aug 21, 2020 - 3

Meteor Activity Outlook for August 15-21, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Wednesday August 19th. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. This weekend the waning crescent moon will rise during the early morning hours but will be too thin to interfere with meteor observing.

by - Aug 14, 2020 -

Meteor Activity Outlook for August 8-14, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Tuesday August 11th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises between 23:00 and midnight local daylight saving time (LDST on August 10/11) . This weekend the waning gibbous moon will rise during the late evening hours, allowing a short but dark glimpse of the early August activity between dusk and moonrise.

by - Aug 7, 2020 - 8

Meteor Activity Outlook for August 1-7, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Monday August 3rd. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. This weekend the nearly full moon will set an hour prior to dawn, allowing a short but dark glimpse of the early August activity. By Thursday, the short, dark portion of night will have shifted to the evening sky in the hour following dusk.

by - Jul 31, 2020 - 1

Meteor Activity Outlook for July 25-31, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Monday July 27th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near midnight. This weekend the more active morning sky will be totally free of interfering moonlight. As the week progresses though, only the few hours just prior to dawn will provide dark skies.

by - Jul 25, 2020 - 2

Meteor Activity Outlook for July 18-24, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its new phase on Tuesday July 21st. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and is invisible at night. The moon will be located near the sun during this entire period; therefore, meteor observations can be held at any time of the night without lunar interference.

by - Jul 17, 2020 - 5

Meteor Activity Outlook for July 11-17, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Monday July 13th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees west of the sun and rises near 0100 local daylight saving time (LDST). As the week progresses the waning crescent moon rises later in the morning with each passing night. This allows the window of dark skies to increase as the week progresses. The most active hours just prior to dawn will have slight interference from moonlight but one can overcome this simply facing in a direction where the moon is not visible within your field of view.

by - Jul 10, 2020 -

Viewing the Southern Delta Aquariids in 2020

One good thing about a Perseid maximum with lunar interference is that it guarantees that two weeks prior that the Southern delta Aquariids (SDA) will peak under good conditions. Such is the case in 2020 when the last quarter moon will diminish the Perseid peak. The SDA's will peak on July 29th with a waxing gibbous moon setting just as the SDA radiant culminates in the southern sky.

by - Jul 8, 2020 - 4

Meteor Activity Outlook for July 4-10, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its full phase on Sunday July 5th. At this time, the moon is located opposite the sun and remains above the horizon all night long. As the week progresses the waning gibbous moon rises later in the evening with each passing night. This allows for some early evening meteor observing under dark skies. Unfortunately, this is also the time of the lowest meteor activity of the night.

by - Jul 4, 2020 - 1

Meteor Activity Outlook for June 27-July 3, 2020

During this period, the moon reaches its first quarter phase on Sunday June 28th. At this time, the moon is located 90 degrees east of the sun and sets near 01:00 local daylight saving time (LDST). As the week progresses the waxing gibbous moon remains longer in the morning sky with each passing night. This narrows the opportunity to view meteor activity under dark conditions from many hours early in the period to almost nil late in the period.

by - Jun 26, 2020 - 3

Meteor Activity Outlook for June 20-26, 2020

During this period the moon reaches its new phase on Monday June 22nd. At this time, the moon is located near the sun and it invisible at night. As the week progresses the waxing crescent moon will enter the evening sky but will not interfere with meteor observing.

by - Jun 19, 2020 - 1

Meteor Activity Outlook for June 13-19, 2020

During this period the moon reaches its last quarter phase on Saturday June 13th. At this time the moon will rise near 02:00 local daylight saving time (LDST) and will remain in the sky the remainder of the morning. This will compromise late morning viewing but successful meteor observations can still be attempted if one keeps the moon out of their field of view. As the week progresses the waning crescent moon will rise later each morning, becoming less of a problem with each passing night.

by - Jun 12, 2020 - 3