Early Saturday morning is expected, although not guaranteed, to bring a spectacular meteor shower never before seen from Earth.
Dust from the 209/LINEAR comet will create the Camelopardalid meteor shower, which NASA says could feature more than 200 meteors per hour. It's expected to peak between 1 and 3 a.m. EST.
Whenever great space events like this come about, people in cities, like D.C., wonder where they can go to escape light pollution. This is where things can get complicated. Without a car, it's hard to get far enough away from the city. Even with one, it can be difficult to find a park open to the public late enough for viewing.
While the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will be holding a public night at Great Meadow park in The Plains, Va. on Friday night, the event ends at 11 p.m. All non-members must leave.
One solution? Pay $35 and join NOVAC, the largest astronomy club in the world with 1,100 members.
Chris Lee, NOVAC's vice president, says the club sees a significant uptick in site traffic and emails when meteor showers approach. While they would like to welcome everyone to stay, agreements with the park make that impossible.
An employee from the Nature Center at Rock Creek Park isn't planning an event for the meteor shower (not enough advanced warning, is one reason), and the park closes at dark. NPS was unable to recommend viewing sites nearby.
So if seeing this meteor shower is something that's extremely important to you, it may be worth the fee and the trip south.
'If you don't get outside the city, you're not going to see a lot of them,' he said of the meteors.
NOVAC will also host a free public day next Saturday, May 31 (which is Astronomy Day) at Sky Meadows State Park: 'The program features solar observing through safe filters, telescopes to look at and look through when the stars come out, and presentations about astronomy and the night sky.' The event begins at 3 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. Entrance to the park ends at 9 p.m.
Entities 0 Name: NOVAC Count: 3 1 Name: Northern Virginia Astronomy Club Count: 1 2 Name: Va. Count: 1 3 Name: D.C. Count: 1 4 Name: The Plains Count: 1 5 Name: NASA Count: 1 6 Name: Rock Creek Park Count: 1 7 Name: Chris Lee Count: 1 8 Name: Earth Count: 1 9 Name: Great Meadow Count: 1 10 Name: NPS Count: 1 11 Name: Nature Center Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1oWySjr Title: All-new meteor shower: 5 things to know about Camelopardalid Description: A first-of-its-kind meteor shower is expected to happen Friday night and into early Saturday morning. Here is what you need to know about the all-new shower: 1. What is the Camelopardalid meteor shower? It would be dust from a periodic comet called the 209P/LINEAR.
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