- This event has passed.
Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 9-11 p.m.
This event has been canceled due to the weather forecast.
Shooting stars and Mars will light up the sky! Join us on the roof of Wilson Hall (weather permitting) for a stargazing observation with student astronomer and with Astronomy Professor Gloria Brown Simmons, who worked on the CASSINI, Magellan, Galileo, Voyager, and Viking missions.
The Perseids Meteor Shower will be especially good to observe during the peak night of August 12th – 13th. The best time to view the meteor shower will be between 9:30PM daylight time on August 12th and lasting through just before dawn on August 13th. More than 60+ Perseid meteors per hour will be radiating from the north east, in the direction of the constellation Perseus. The highest rate of meteors are expected during the early hours of August 13th. Observers, given clear skies, will see meteors that are within 161 km of the observer’s location. Other meteor showers that night will be the Aquariids and Capricornids radiating from the south east. The best way to view a meteor shower is with “naked” eyes (without telescopes or binoculars) looking up towards the zenith overhead.