2018 Alpha Aurigid Meteor Shower Peaks Saturday, Sept. 1

Summary: The 2018 Alpha Aurigid meteor shower peaks Saturday, Sept. 1, and lasts through Monday, Sept. 10.

Aurigid meteor shower outburst as observed at 47,000 feet; Saturday, Sep. 1, 2007: Jérémie Vaubaillon, Caltech, NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

With a start date of Saturday, Aug. 25, the 2018 Alpha Aurigid meteor shower peaks Saturday, Sept. 1, and continues through Monday, Sept. 10.

The Alpha Aurigids’ name reflects the meteor shower’s radiant, or apparent point of origin, in Auriga the Charioteer constellation. Robert Lunsford, American Meteor Society’s weekly Meteor Activity Outlook columnist, places the radiant in central Auriga, three degrees west of Nu Aurigae (ν Aurigae; Nu Aur, ν Aur) and Tau Aurigae (τ Aurigae; Tau Aur, τ Aur). The close, starry pair’s location is three degrees northwest of Theta Aurigae (θ Aurigae; Tet Aur, θ Aur), Auriga’s third brightest star.

Theta Aurigae anchors the easternmost angle of Auriga’s distinctive pentagon. The binary star is northwest of Auriga’s brightest star, Alpha Aurigae (α Aurigae; Alpha Aur, α Aur). Known traditionally as Capella (Latin: “small female goat”), Capella shines as the Northern Celestial Hemisphere’s third brightest star.

The Charioteer’s location in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere encourages favorable visibility of the Alpha Aurigids for northern latitude observers. Rural observation sites at tropical southern latitudes, such as at 25 degrees south latitude, offer viewing possibilities for Southern Hemisphere watchers, though with a smaller number of shooting stars than at northern latitudes.

Lunsford advises that best viewing of central Auriga’s sky location happens in the last hour of pre-dawn darkness. At that hour the radiant has reached its highest placement, to the northeast, in the pre-twilight sky.

Earth’s moon distracts from easy viewing of the Alpha Aurigid meteor shower’s first week. A full moon greeted the shower’s opening night, Saturday, Aug. 25. A waning gibbous moon, at approximately 68 percent lunar surface visibility, lightens skies of peak night.

By the middle of the 2018 Aurigids' second week, however, the moon ceases to compete. The waning crescent phase downsizes from 25 percent visibility Wednesday, Sept. 5, to 8 percent visibility Friday, Sept. 7. The waning crescent’s illumination further decreases to 3 percent visibility Saturday, Sept. 8. The new phase’s invisibility finally takes over Sunday, Sept. 9, and Monday, Sept. 10.

The Alpha Aurigids classify as a minor meteor shower. American amateur astronomer Gary W. Kronk explains that a minor meteor shower displays minor, not major, activity. Aurigid peak generally ranges from two to five meteors per hour.

Intermittent, increased activity, known as outbursts, are associated with the Alpha Aurigids. Outbursts in the 20th century have been observed in 1935, 1986, 1994 and 2007.

Outbursts of approximately 30 meteors per hour in 1935 led to independent, same-night discoveries of the Alpha Aurigids by first German, and then Czech, astronomers. On the night of Saturday, Aug. 31, to Sunday, Sept. 1, for over six hours, beginning at around 9 p.m., Cuni Hoffmeiser (Feb. 2, 1892-Jan. 2, 1968) and Artur Teichgraeber at the Sonneberg Observatory in Sonneberg, Thuringia, east central Germany, tracked Alpha Aurigid meteors. At Stefanik Observatory in central Prague, central western Czech Republic, Czech Astronomical Society members A. Vratnik, J. Vlcek and J. Stepanek observed the outburst, beginning at 9:31 p.m.

The Alpha Aurigid meteor shower claims comet C/1911 N1 (Keiss) as parent body. American astronomer Carl Clarence Keiss (Oct. 18, 1887-Oct. 16, 1967) is credited with discovering comet Keiss July 6, 1911, at Northern California’s Lick Observatory, sited on the Diablo Range’s Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County. He made his discovery via a plate taken the morning of Thursday, July 6, with the Crocker Photographic Telescope.

Alpha Aurigid meteors shoot swiftly across the sky. Particles enter Earth’s atmosphere at a velocity of 67 kilometers per second (about 42 miles per second).

The shower’s particles move swiftly across Earth’s skies. Particles assume a swift velocity of 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second). Their entry velocity exceeds that of August’s prolific Perseid meteor shower. The Perseids’ shooting stars race into Earth’s atmosphere at a velocity of about 60 kilometers per second (about 37 miles per second).

The takeaways for the 2018 Alpha Aurigid meteor shower that spans Saturday, Aug. 25, to Monday, Sept. 10, are that the minor shower peaks Saturday, Sept. 1, favors Northern Hemisphere watchers and offers intermittent outbursts.

The Aurigids meteor shower annually associates with late August and early September; EarthSky @EarthSky, via Facebook Sep. 1, 2013

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Aurigid meteor shower outburst as observed at 47,000 feet over Santa Clara County, Northern California; Saturday, Sep. 1, 2007, by 24 researchers aboard two Gulfstream V aircraft for NASA’s Aurigid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign (Aurigid MAC): Jérémie Vaubaillon, Caltech, NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aurigids_-_Jeremie_Vaubaillon.jpg;
Public Domain, via NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day @ https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070905.html

The Aurigids meteor shower annually associates with late August and early September; EarthSky @EarthSky, via Facebook Sep. 1, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/EarthSky/photos/a.61619521852.81951.36709031852/10151534234991853/

For further information:

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EarthSky @EarthSky. “Debbie Adams posted this photo of an Aurigid meteor seen August 29, 2013 in Colorado. Thank you, Debbie. The shower is peaking this morning, September 1. Possible 14-20 meteors/hr.” Facebook. Sept. 1, 2013.br /> Available @ https://www.facebook.com/EarthSky/photos/a.61619521852.81951.36709031852/10151534234991853/

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