Tuesday 13 - Perseids, Pulsating Stars

August 13 Perseids, Pulsating Stars by:

View larger. | Moonlight obscured the peak of the Perseid meteor shower this year; many are saying the shower was sparse. But some people did see meteors. Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, caught this earthgrazer last night. Notice its colors! Thanks, Eliot! More meteor pics below.

Astronomers find a new type of pulsating star At Palomar Observatory near San Diego, a dedicated telescope spends its nights surveying the heavens. A recent analysis of its data revealed 4 stars that change in brightness, over just minutes. Read more. Update on India's Chandrayaan-2 moon mission Tomorrow, the spacecraft will shift from its orbit of Earth toward a path to the moon.  Read more and see the spacecraft's 1st set of images.  What is the moon illusion? It's nearly full moon. So you might see an extra-large-looking moon low in the sky, one evening soon. Why does a low moon look so big? It's because of the moon illusion, a trick your brain is playing. Read more and see a video.

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Green meteor over Romania View at EarthSky Community Photos. | For some, the best meteor-watching hours, shortly before dawn, were a chance to escape the heat and catch a few meteors. Vlad Dumitrescu in Romania caught this image on the morning of August 11. He wrote: "We went out observing and stayed until after the moon went down. The radiant went higher and activity improved. It was a good night to look up and enjoy nice temperatures, after some rough daylight hours, 37 degrees Celsius [98.6 degrees Fahrenheit] warm. Clear skies!" Thank you, Vlad!

Solitary meteor over Pennsylvania View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tom Wildoner of the Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, has an automatic camera set-up for meteor observing. He caught this one on August 11 and wrote: "After a quick review of 700 images captured last evening, I only captured a single bright Perseid meteor ... You can see this bright meteor streak above center near the constellation Cassiopeia (sideways W) and pointing in the direction of Perseus. The brighter stars have been enhanced in this image to help orient your view, North is marked on the image." Thanks, Tom! Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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