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.
Perseid meteors over Luzern, Switzerland ©right; Orest Shvadchak (Olympus Corp. E-M10 Mark III, 8mm, 1s, f/1.8, ISO1600) The Perseids are…
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The AMS received over 110 reports so far about a fireball event that occurred over California (LA area) on June 10th, 2020 around 3:33 Universal Time (June 9th, 2020 08:33pm PDT). We also received nearly 90 reports about a similar event that occurred the next day North of San Francisco, CA. This second event occurred on June 11th 2020 around 03:51 Universal Time (June 10th, 2020 08:51pm PDT)
American Meteor Society
