Meteor Outburst!

Here are two links with more information:

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/unexpected-perseid-outburst-wows-viewers/

https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2021/08/18/perseid-meteor-outburst-2/

(Plain Text Version)

The Perseid meteor shower has a reputation for being a reliable event.  It reaches its peak on the night beginning August 12.  Under a dark sky, roughly 60 meteors per hour can be expected.  Unlike many other showers, it produces meteors a few nights before and after the peak night.

Although the Perseid shower is consistent in many ways, no meteor shower is fully predictable.

An Outburst on August 14, 2021

One day after the historical peak, an outburst was seen in the United States and Canada from 1:00-4:00 AM CDT.  Approximately 120 meteors were observed per hour, about five times the usual number for this “off peak” date.

Scientists were not totally surprised by this outburst, because similar but smaller events occurred in 1993, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Why Do Outbursts Occur?

Meteor showers are fed by streams of material which detach from comets as they orbit the Sun.  These particles (called meteoroids) travel around the Sun with orbits similar to those of their parent comets.  When Earth passes through one of these streams, the repeated streaks of a meteor shower are seen in the sky.

Comets don’t shed their particles in a uniform pattern, so the visible meteor count can vary from year to year, day to day, and even hour to hour. 

How To Find an Outburst

One must be watching the sky at the right time!  Usually, this time will be unknown.  Since we all have busy schedules, it may not be practical take time to observe on nights other than the “peak” night.

To avoid an unproductive session, the sky can be scanned during periodic trips outside.  It would help to watch for a few minutes, so that the eyes can gain at least some dark adaptation.  (Full dark adaptation takes around 45 minutes.)  For most locations, light pollution could hide many meteors.  This technique is far from ideal, but it may reveal the unexpected!