Experience intense cosmic destruction from the safety of our Hansen Dome Theatre. Clark Planetarium’s newest feature, Violent Universe: Catastrophes of the Cosmos, is a sure fit for those who enjoy the splendid beauty of our cosmic surroundings paired with explosive sequences and epic destruction.
The Geminid meteor shower peaks in the early morning hours of Tuesday, 14 December, 2010 (4 am, MST). The Moon is a day past 1st quarter, meaning it will set around 2 am, making meteor watching in the pre-dawn hours really good. For all meteor showers, the best time to observe is the pre-dawn hours [...]
The Orionid meteor shower peaks on Thursday morning, October 21st, 2010, at 10:00 am, MDT. Best viewing would be the nights of the 20th and 21st. The predicted peak rate for the Orionids is 20 meteors per hour. Unfortuantely, a full moon on the 22nd will wash out most meteors.
One of the most reliable and memorable meteor showers of the year will peak on August 12. That’s when the Earth will collide with a stream of particles left behind by comet Swift-Tuttle. While these particles will hit Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of 130,000 miles per hour, there is no need for Earthlings to [...]
The Perseid meteor shower peaks at 6:00 pm, MDT, on Thursday, August 12, 2010. Predictions are for a healthy 90 meteors per hour at peak. A waxing crescent Moon will set early and give meteor watchers a good dark sky on the nights of the 11th and the 12th.
Regardless of the predicted peak hour, the [...]
The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks at 10:00 pm, MST, on Sunday, December 13th; with a predicted peak rate of 120 meteors per hour.
With New Moon on the 16th, there will be no moonlight to wash out the sky, making this year’s Geminids a shower worth watching Sunday night.
The Geminid shower does not originate from a [...]
Wow! What a fireball. It’s the buzz that surrounds this event that has everyone clambering for more information. As we try to answer people’s questions, we’ve gathered some of the most reliable data available at this point. We know that the meteor’s path (in the area of Salt Lake City) had it moving roughly from [...]
This week’s Cosmic Quiz winner is Mary Newland, who asked, “Every year I like to watch the Perseids meteor shower. If the meteors are continually being shed, why does the comet not cease to exist?”
That is a great question!
As a matter of fact, comets do cease to exist over time.
Let’s start with some background information [...]
The night of May 5 through the early morning hours of May 6th will be the best time to see the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. This meteor shower results from none other than Halley’s comet, last seen passing by in 1986.
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