New York City’s world infamous noisiness, brutish pace, with no trace of empathy or personal space let up last night to the magic of something bigger than the leviathan city itself. Viewed from Brooklyn, Staten Island or Jersey, the fact is that only about one percent of the cosmic spectacle an amateur astronomer could have ogled in the days of Galileo.
This penchant for stolid skies broke last night, was even transgressed, as even the atrocious level of light pollution could not disguise the explosions in the sky from the Perseid meteor shower, whose origin is the Swift-Tuttle Comet.
We have been given this neat display as a result of the Swift-Tuttle comet’s unusually close encounter with the third planet of the solar system, causing it (this third planet) to pass through a thin, cylindrical-shaped trail of rocky particles such that many burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating a dazzling display of cosmic destruction.
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Some favored places in the city to view the meteor shower include Inwood Hill Park, Central Park, the High Line, and Marine Park in Brooklyn.
However, yesterday’s eve was special enough to overrule the limits of light pollution. In lesser-known stargazing sights, such as Battery Park, or the rooftops of Dumbo, several fireballs were seen between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a. m.
It is true that this year’s meteor shower’s peak has passed, it’s in the past and it’s not coming back, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still catch the tail end of the show. Following is a list of events from which to view what’s left of the meteor shower, as assembled by the New York
While some say the event can only be observed during clear weather, the night I saw the lights it was fairly cool, misting rain and very foggy. It was quite amazing to see. We had been sitting at Wisemans View for almost 4 hours and had almost given up when a faint glow appeared on the side of the mountain. We watched it move slowly down the mountain then a second light appeared. They both descended down until reaching the river at the bottom. The lights disappeared completely and after a few seconds reappeared on the other side of the river. The hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stood up. We continued to watch the pair of lights move along the ridge until they just
This is different from before because I could not see beyond the thick gray clouds. Also, I could psychically see fewer things during the evening than I would have in the afternoon. For example, I can't see beyond ten houses when everyone has their lights off.
In the Los Angeles Times 2012 article “Let There Be Dark”, author Paul Bogard’s main purpose is to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. Paul Bogard describes the “smoky trails” left by meteors in the Minnesota summer night skies and the problem of light pollution diminishing the “irreplaceable value” of our natural darkness.
A world without the excessive use of vapid lighting will allow people to enjoy the magnificent stars as captured in Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Bogard then moves on to establishing the beauty of Paris as the “City of Light”. In stark contrast to its status as a city illuminated by beautiful artificial lighting, the city has taken steps to limit the use of these excessive lighting, in turn turning Paris from “a city of light” to “a city of light … before 2AM.” This dichotomy allows Bogard’s audience to appreciates the importance of preserving the night sky via limiting the presence of artificial light. If a city which is famed for its use of artificial lighting is able to preserve the natural darkness while concurrently preserving its natural beauty, it is a given that society will be able to mimic this
As a matter of fact, Hale Bopp was so close to earth you could see it’s brightness with your own eye for roughly eighteen months. Given that you can see Hale Bopp with your naked eye, the closest it’s ever been to earth was 1.3 AU’s. This is interesting because of the fact that most comets you can’t see unless you have a telescope or binoculars. Some researchers have reported it is almost as bright as the star Sirius.
Near-Earth objects are also subject to events such as meteor showers, outbursts, and storms, in which hundreds of meteors speed along a trajectory from a similar radiant point, often colliding (Reding, 2015). The debris from these occurrences are often seen passing through, and landing in the Earth’s atmosphere, deviating far from their original path. This could serve as a prelude to what might happen if detritus were to fly off the meteorites (Scoles, 2015).
This device was affixed from a 100 foot tower and was set off just before dawn. The world was not accurately prepared for the result of atomic travesties. A blinding flash that was visible for 200 miles lit up the morning sky. A mushroom shaped
The next day the explosions were louder and could be heard as far away as 2600 km. The ash veil was spreading out over a vast extending as far as western Java. In spots within 600 km of the volcano the sky remained pitch dark for 1 or 2 days, the hot was reported to be extremely hot and then cold. A “nitrous” odor was noticeable as far west as Batavia (Stothers, 1984).
Margaret had Grandpa’s rickety old brass telescope trained on the sky looking for meteors that streaked past faster than she could find them with the long barrel of the scope. ‘There goes another one!’ said Elaine, but Margaret would not give up on finding one with the telescope” (45-46). This moment with her sister was very memorable that Nusrat look backs at it and the early encounter if
Being here in the city for one afternoon or day wouldn’t allow to experience the new surroundings. Its important that the individual who comes to the Big Apple stays long enough to notice a difference in what they saw in their mid afternoon walk yesterday. One wonders ,” Hey, was that was always there?”, or “ Woah did they put that in overnight?”. There is no typical day in New York City. The weirdness we see becomes so normal that if something were to stay the same for so long it would get boring. “City Limits," by Colson Whitehead touches on the New Yorkers thoughts on the city, explaining the change we New Yorkers go
The sky was lit up with blended colors of orange, red and yellow. The contrast created between the dark waters and the luminous sky makes the horizon look like a meeting of two worlds. The outer edges of the blazing sky have begun to cool with the indigo of the night, as it slowing sinks away. Before we knew it, it was pitch black dark and all you heard was a big pop, bang and boom. A soon as the firework popped in the sky, different colors lit up the sky. Fountain of colorful sparks, racing into the dark night sky. Crackling fire crackers creating a rhythm of sound. The ocean acting like a mirror, reflecting the colors of the fireworks on across the water. Everyone’s face lit up with excitement as the fireworks, pop and seen a glare of light across the sky. Kids running around with sparkles and roman candles, holding them up to the sky as they shot our like rockets toward the sky. The fireworks went on and on for about another fifteen minutes and we all called it a
in the background. The sky is dark as if the final rays of the sun were
At first instance I thought that was about and explosion of some kind, but after a while a thought that it could be an asteroid probably not too big to represent any danger, but certainly was something with a lot of power to cover the darkness of the morning with a light that lasted about for at least 4 seconds. After this event I asked my daughter if she also experienced the phenomenon, but she was asleep contrary to the direction of the flashes. I’m the only witness of that moment.
Astronomers don’t spend all of their nights staring at a few favorite stars, or searching for nova or navel-gazing. Sometimes we’re treated to something more obvious; something anyone can do without any training or study: meteor showers. This August, the < a href= “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids”>Perseid meteor shower will peak during the night between August 12th and 13th, so unless you’re in the middle of monsoon season, why not make the time to enjoy it?
“Bombs bursting in air. They can blind us, like fireworks at the moment of explosion. If we close our eyes and turn away, all we see is the fiery image. But if we have the courage to keep our eyes open and welcoming, even bombs finally fade against the vastness of the starry sky “(15).