Friday, April 17, 2020

The Sky's the Limit

Astrophotographer Miguel Claro took the image from São Miguel Island in the Azores on April 5, 2014.

(Image: © Miguel Claro/www.miguelclaro.com)

International Dark Sky Week 2020 starts Sunday, April 19

Some of the highlights from this year's IDA sessions include presentations spanning millennia of human interactions with the sky, including cultures from New Zealand to Guatemala and technologies from navigation to photography. Many of the talks are appropriate and exciting for both adults and children.

"Right now, families around the globe find themselves spending many hours at home together," Ruskin Hartley, IDA's executive director, said in a statement. "It's a perfect time to reconnect with the night sky — and International Dark-Sky Week provides a portal for that experience."

The IDA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the sky and the nighttime environment, especially by encouraging the use of outdoor lighting that does not scatter into the sky. This Space.com story from 2018 shows how you can reduce light pollution.

Presentations will be available for free online on both YouTube and Facebook. You can also discuss on social media using the hashtags #lookuptogether and #IDSW2020.

Wednesday, April 22 pre-dawn—Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak

https://www.space.com/23315-lyrid-meteor-shower.html

The annual Lyrids meteor shower, derived from particles dropped by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), runs from April 16 to 28, and will peak in intensity around 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, April 22. The best viewing time will be between midnight and dawn on Wednesday, with fewer meteors on the mornings before and after. The meteors will streak away from a point in the sky (the shower's radiant) near the bright star Vega, which will be high in the eastern sky before dawn. The Lyrids can produce up to 18 meteors per hour, with occasional fireballs. A nearly new moon will leave the skies nice and dark for this year's shower.