Views of Perseid meteor shower could be hampered by bright moon

Stargazers hoping to get a good view of the annual Perseid meteor shower in Albertathis weekend may be stymied by another well-known object in the sky the moon.

Speaking to The Homestretch on Tuesday, astronomy author and photographer Alan Dyer says the moon may be too bright to get a good view of shooting stars, which peak each year on Aug. 11 and 12 when the Earth passes through a dust cloud from theSwift-Tuttlecomet.

But that doesn't mean it won't be worth looking up after dark.

"The meteor shower itself will probably perform as usual, but we're just past full moon now, it was (Monday) night, so by the weekendwe have a waning, gibbous moon that's coming up about 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m., not long after it gets dark," he said.

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"The moonlight is going to wash things out, so that's going to decrease the number of meteors (visible), you won't see the faintest meteors. The bright ones will still be there, but they're less frequent so you have to be patient."

Skywatchers are advised to keep their eyes trained to the northeast for the best views.

"You can look anywhere in the sky, it doesn't matter, but they're coming out of a constellation called Perseus, which is why we call them the Perseid meteors."

And it's best to be out of the city away from light sources.

"Even with the moonlight it's best to be at a darker, rural site," said Dyer.

The bright moon is also going to make photography more difficult.

"That's going to kind of hamper us and make it tough to do long enough exposures," said Dyer.

"The meteors themselves only last for a fraction of a second, so to record them you need to use a pretty fast, wide-angle lens, F-2.8 or even faster, and a fast ISO speed, 1600 to 3200. Then take lots of pictures."

There will also be asolar eclipse on Aug. 21, which will only be partially seen from this part of the planet.

"The middle of the eclipse is about 11:30 a.m. and from southern Alberta about 80 per cent of the sun is going to be covered," said Dyer.

"To see it, you're looking at the sun so you need a special, safe filter."

And "safe filters" don't include the homemade kind.

"You need special eclipse glasses made out of Mylar or plastic black polymer that is very dense and when you look through them, you don't see anything but the sun."

Telescopes will also be set up at the University of Calgary and Telus Sparkto view the eclipse.

With files from The Homestretch

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