The Perseid meteor shower will peak soon. Here's how to see it from Wisconsin
The Perseid meteor shower, named for its proximity to the constellation Perseus, is the best and brightest meteor shower each year, according to NASA. The shower is especially known for its fireballs, or "shooting stars," with explosions of light and color that are larger and longer than the typical meteor streak.
This year, the Perseids are active from July 17 to Aug. 23, with a peak in mid-August.
Here's how and when you can best see the Perseids from Wisconsin.
When to see the Perseids meteor shower
The Perseids will peak this year in the night between Tuesday, Aug. 12 and Wednesday, Aug. 13.
However, unfortunately for Perseids enthusiasts, the waning gibbous moon will coincide with the maximum activity period of the shower this year. That means only the brighter meteors will be visible and overall activity of the shower will drop by at least 75%, according to the American Meteor Society
The shower usually features about 50 to 75 meteors per hour at 37 miles per second. With the moon this year, observers may only see about 10 to 20 meteors hourly.
How to get the best views of the Perseids in Wisconsin
Despite suboptimal viewing conditions this year, you can still take a few steps to ensure the best possible chance to sighting the Perseids.
Here are some viewing tips, according to USA TODAY:
The best viewing times are after midnight and before dawn, but you may want to get outside as early as 9 p.m. CT to maximize your chances.
Find a viewing spot with clear skies and without clouds or haze, preferably away from city lights.
Look toward the northeast, toward the constellation Perseus, for the shower.
Be patient. The showers may take a while to become visible, and your eyes will need at least 15 to 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness.
Best places to view celestial events in Wisconsin
Here are some placed in Wisconsin that could offer some of the best views of the night sky:
Newport State Park, Ellison Bay
Driftless Wisconsin
Harrington Beach State Park
Kettle Moraine State Forest
Kohler-Andrae State Park
Parnell Tower
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How to see Perseid meteor shower peak in Wisconsin
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
27 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Temporary barriers spared Alaska's capital from severe flooding. A long-term solution is elusive
The glacial flooding that sent residents of Alaska's capital city scrambling this week has become an annual ordeal for those who live along the picturesque river that winds from the nearby Mendenhall Glacier. This year, a giant wall of reinforced sandbags erected with the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held back the worst of the flooding in Juneau, to residents' great relief. The damage was nothing like what happened the last two years, when flooding was rampant and some homes washed away. But the wall is merely a temporary barrier. The effort to devise a permanent solution is complicated by what scientists don't yet know about how human-caused global warming will impact the yearly outbursts of water from an ice dam at the glacier. Juneau is just one of many communities around the globe struggling to engineer a way out of the worst damage from climate change. 'We can't keep doing this,' said Ann Wilkinson Lind, who lives on the banks of the Mendenhall River. 'We need a levee or some other permanent fix. ... This is an emergency situation that can't take 10 years for this study and that study and every other study. It needs to be done now.' The Mendenhall Glacier is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Juneau, home to 30,000 people in southeast Alaska, and is a popular tourist attraction due to its proximity and easy access on walking trails. Homes on the city's outskirts are within miles of Mendenhall Lake, which sits below the glacier, and many front the Mendenhall River. The glacial outburst flooding from the Mendenhall is itself a phenomenon caused by climate change, which is thinning glaciers around the world. A glacier nearby retreated, leaving behind a large bowl — Suicide Basin — that fills each spring and summer with rainwater and snowmelt dammed by the Mendenhall. When that water builds up enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam, enters Mendenhall Lake, and flows down the Mendenhall River toward Juneau. Flooding from the basin has been an annual concern since 2011 and has gotten worse, with new water-level records being set each of the last three years. City officials responded this year by working with state, federal and tribal entities to install the temporary barrier along roughly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of riverbank. The 10,000 'Hesco' barriers are essentially giant, reinforced sandbags intended to protect more than 460 properties, said emergency manager Ryan O'Shaughnessy. The Juneau Assembly required homeowners in the flood zone to cover 40% of the barrier's cost — about $6,300 each over 10 years. Additionally, a handful of homeowners were asked to chip in $50,000 toward reinforcing the river bank. About one-quarter of the residents formally objected, not enough to torpedo the project. This week, some water seeped between the bastions or through pipes underneath them that are designed to allow water to drain from yards into the river. Valves in the pipes are supposed to prevent floodwater from entering. But officials uniformly called the project a success, while acknowledging that some homes were damaged and that the barrier needs to be further extended. The barriers are designed to last for up to 10 years to allow time for a long-term solution. But questions abound. The capacity of Suicide Basin seems to be growing, and scientists aren't sure what a worst-case flood might look like. They predict that within a few decades, the Mendenhall itself will retreat far enough that it no longer acts as a dam, eliminating the risk of a flood outburst from Suicide Basin. But the persistent melting could also form other glacially dammed lakes that could function in a similar way. 'There's still a lot to be learned,' said Nate Ramsey, Juneau's engineering and public works deputy director. 'We have to assume this will be an annual event for the next many, many years. Is something like a temporary, soil-filled basket levy the best we can do over that period of time? ... We've got to keep looking for a long-term solution.' The Army Corps of Engineers has nearly $5 million set aside to begin working on a long-term solution, which for now largely consists of data collection. 'It's like trying to solve a math problem when the variables are always changing,' Army Corps Brig. Gen. Clete Goetz said Thursday. 'Seeing the problem is not the hard part. Engineering the solution is the challenge. That's what we're here for.' ___ Johnson and Attanasio reported from Seattle. Rush reported from Portland, Oregon.
New York Post
28 minutes ago
- New York Post
NASA rover spots rock shaped like medieval helmet on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover stationed on Mars spotted a dome-shaped rock with a striking resemblance to a helmet used during medieval times. The martian rock, captured by Perseverance's primary camera on Aug. 5, is pointed at the top and dome-shaped on top of a flared brim. It has a rough, textured surface covered in small bumps. 3 NASA's Perseverance rover spotted a rock shaped like a medieval helmet on Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU / SWNS Advertisement The image was selected as Perseverance's best photo during its 234th week on Mars, though scientists working on its team noted it's not the first time the rover has encountered that type of igneous rock. 'This rock's target name is Horneflya and it's distinctive less because of its hat shape (which looks to me to be generally consistent with the pyramid shape we often see in of wind-eroded float blocks on the surface of Mars) and more because it's made almost entirely of spherules,' David Agle, a spokesperson for the Perseverance team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told 3 Perseverance launched in July 2020. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUS / SWNS Advertisement The rock's odd composition will help scientists further understand how Mars' environmental history, including its 'internal processes,' formed the unique landscape over billions of years, the outlet reported. Perseverance's primary mission, though, isn't to collect baubles. The rover was launched on July 30, 2020 to search for ancient microbial life on the Red Planet to aid scientists in studying its habitability. Its research will help scientists get closer to sending a person to Mars as NASA inches ever closer to its final goal in the Artemis program, which seeks to establish a permanent base on the Moon to oversee the first astronaut landing on the Red Planet. Advertisement SpaceX CEO and former Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk is also eyeing interests on Mars with loose plans to launch uncrewed trips as early as 2028. 3 There are currently five NASA rovers on Mars. ESA/MPS et al. / SWNS In the meantime, Perseverance has been working overtime. It was first sent to survey the Jezero Crater to probe Mars' 'wet history' — a trek it only just completed in December 2024 three years after landing. Advertisement 'Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments,' NASA says on the home page for the mission. NASA currently has four other rovers on Mars. Sojourner, the oldest and most antiquated of the five, landed on Mars in July 1997, according to NASA. The second-eldest rover, Opportunity, was originally built to last just three months on Mars. Instead, it pressed on for a staggering 15 years before shutting down in 2019.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Want Dewier Skin as You Age? This Nutrient May Help, New Study Suggests
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD Key Points A new study suggests that carotenoids may help reduce skin aging. Carotenoids act like antioxidants and are abundant in fruits and vegetables. Eating carotenoid-rich foods with unsaturated fats may help your body better absorb them. It's no secret that eating more plants can be good for you. Besides their fiber, vitamins and minerals, they tend to be plentiful in antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables, especially, are loaded with antioxidants called carotenoids. Specifically, carotenoids are plant pigments responsible for the red, orange and yellow hues in many types of produce. The fruits and vegetables that contain carotenoids include sweet potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, mangoes, papayas, tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, oranges and apricots. And while not fitting into the expected color scheme, dark leafy greens, including spinach, kale and Swiss chard, fall into that category, too. There is some evidence that carotenoids may protect the skin. For this reason, some skincare companies even use these powerful plant compounds in their products. But what if you eat foods high in carotenoids? Can that also protect your skin? Researchers in Romania conducted a systematic review of previously published studies on carotenoids and skin aging. They published their results in Nutrients. Let's break down what they found. How Was This Study Conducted? Researchers searched for studies on the topic of skin health and carotenoids. After choosing ones that met their specific parameters, they ended up with 176 studies that were eligible for their systematic review. The included studies featured findings about topical carotenoids—like skincare products that include carotenoids—and dietary carotenoids. Only studies written in English were included in the analysis. What Did This Study Find? Researchers found that the included studies suggest that carotenoids protect skin from aging through several mechanisms. These include: Antioxidant Protection: Carotenoids may help neutralize and mitigate the effects of oxidative stress, a central mechanism in the pathology of skin aging. Plus, carotenoids' antioxidant mechanisms also support the production of hyaluronic acid, which plays a major role in skin hydration and elasticity. Photoprotection: Carotenoids may help dissipate UV rays and reduce the energy available to damage skin. Anti-inflammatory Properties: You may have heard of inflammaging, which is the result of chronic inflammation in our bodies, including our skin. Carotenoids may help calm inflammation and reduce the effect inflammation can have on skin. Collagen Production: Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the dermis layer of the skin, the thick inner layer of our skin. It's necessary for maintaining skin's firmness and elasticity. Carotenoids may help enhance collagen synthesis and inhibit its breakdown. Skin Moisturization: Dry skin appears more aged and wrinkled, and unfortunately, as we age, our skin becomes drier. Carotenoids can help maintain skin's moisture levels by helping to enhance skin's barrier, along with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions. Researchers also note that gut health is a key factor. When we eat foods rich in carotenoids, before they're broken down and released into the bloodstream to skin cells, they reside in the gut. The health of your gut environment will partly determine how much of the carotenoids your body can absorb and use—referred to as the bioavailability of the nutrients. Besides gut health, researchers also found that carotenoids have greater bioavailability when eaten with unsaturated fats or when lightly cooked. Because this was a systematic review, researchers may not have the same depth of interpretation of the results compared to the original study authors. In other words, the interpretation of results might be different from the original. Also, because studies are performed using varying methods, drawing consistent conclusions can be challenging. Lastly, there are no standardized guidelines for carotenoid consumption, so these researchers cannot make recommendations for an ideal amount of daily carotenoid intake. How Does This Apply to Real Life? We know that eating more plants—fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes—has many health benefits, from reduced inflammation and a healthier gut microbiome to a lower risk of disease and a healthier heart and brain. Now we can add healthier skin to the list. If you want to start including more carotenoids, go for delicious recipes that include deep orange winter squash, carrots and bell peppers. We have lots of leafy green recipes, including a few for smoothies. If tomatoes are your thing, you'll want to check out our healthy tomato recipes, which include soups, salads, apps, sandwiches and main dishes. Not to be outdone by the veggies, some fruits are also rich in carotenoids. Check out our healthy orange recipes (did you know you can eat the skin?). We also have lots of tasty mango recipes that will help you expand your tropical horizons. And this papaya smoothie recipe is creamy with warm cinnamon notes. To get the most from your carotenoids and increase their bioavailability, you can lightly cook them. (Tomatoes are an exception, as they can be cooked down more, including into sauces, and have more carotenoids available compared to raw tomatoes.) Also consider eating carotenoid-rich foods with a source of unsaturated fat, like sunflower or olive oil. The lipids in the oils form micelles, which encapsulate the carotenoids and transport them, increasing their bioavailability. Out of all the carotenoid-rich foods, these researchers highlight the papaya as having superior carotenoid micellarization. Besides nutrition, researchers note other lifestyle habits that influence skin and overall health, including physical activity, sleep and social interactions. It's also important to avoid tobacco use and reduce UV ray exposure for healthy skin. The research team also suggests that there's evidence that combining topical carotenoids (like in face cream) and consuming foods rich in carotenoids should be part of the ideal skincare routine. Our Expert Take This systematic review suggests that carotenoid-rich foods may help improve skin's elasticity, hydration levels and overall health. They also suggest other lifestyle habits that play a role in skin health. While this study focused on carotenoid-rich foods, there's not one magic bullet for healthy skin. They are, however, an important piece of the puzzle, and should be included along with a variety of other foods that contain other types of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats. 'Eating the rainbow' can provide you with more assurance that you're getting what your body needs for healthy aging—skin and all. Read the original article on EATINGWELL
