Look Up For Meteor Showers In Southwest Riverside County

MURRIETA, CA — With oppressive daytime heat comes a rare occurrence in Southern California—extremely low humidity. That makes for ideal stargazing for those in the know.

In recent days, residents of Riverside County have sent in photos of their astral sightings of the SpaceX launch and streaks of StarLink satellites creating a super orbital show.

Now, it's time to look a bit further from the atmosphere and see the streaks of meteor showers heading our way.

Shooting Stars And Fireballs

Southern Delta Aquariids, July 29-31: This shower runs from July 18-Aug. 21 and produces about 20 meteors an hour at the peak. The moon will be about 95 percent full for this shower, which is produced by debris left behind by the comets Marsden and Kracht.

Alpha Capricornids, July 30-31: This shower is active from July 7-Aug. 13, with a “plateau-like” maximum at the peak. It isn’t a particularly strong shower and rarely produces more than five shooting stars an hour, but what is notable is the number of bright fireballs produced during the peak. The moon will be about 95 percent full at the peak, so the show could be a washout.

Perseids, Aug. 12-13: Famous for producing a large number of fireballs, the Perseids meteor shower is regarded as one of the best of the year. The shower runs July 14-Sept. 1 and produces up to 100 shooting stars an hour at the peak. The shower, discovered in 1862, is produced by the comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle. 2023 could be a good year to plan something around the peak; the moon will be about 10 percent full, so it shouldn’t interfere much with the sky show.

If you really want to learn more about what you're seeing out there, be sure and follow Temecula Valley Astronomers, who host regular star parties at South Coast Winery in Temecula.

Full Moons And Supermoons

Moon shadow chasers, 2023 is your year with four consecutive summer supermoons, two of them in the same month, a phenomenon known as a monthly blue moon.
If skies are clear, the moon should be exceptionally bright on and around the evenings of Aug. 1, Aug. 31 and Sept. 29.

The term supermoon didn’t come from astronomy. Rather, astrologer Richard Nolle coined the term in 1979, defining a supermoon as a new or full moon that occurs when it is at its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit, making it appear bigger and brighter.

“Interestingly, nobody paid much attention to Nolle's definition until March 19, 2011, when the full moon arrived at an exceptionally close perigee, coming within 126 miles (203 kilometers) of its closest possible approach to Earth,” Joe Rao wrote for Space.com.

Until Nolle “branded” the supermoon, astronomers called the full moon that coincided with perigee as a “perigean full moon,” and it passed without notice.

“Now,” Rao continued, “it seems that every time a full moon coincides with perigee, it is referred to as a supermoon.”

Early indigenous populations named the moons to track the seasons. Below are all the full moons of 2023, including supermoons, and the names given to them by Native Americans:

Aug. 1: Sturgeon moon (supermoon)

Aug. 31: Blue moon (supermoon)

Sept. 29: Harvest moon (supermoon)

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Be sure to follow Temecula Valley Astronomers, and let us know if you're going to their next Star Party at South Coast Winery.