{"id":9290,"date":"2015-02-20T16:18:37","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T21:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=9290"},"modified":"2015-09-24T14:35:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T18:35:22","slug":"how-to-catch-a-shooting-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=9290","title":{"rendered":"How to catch a \u201cshooting star\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9238\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/shutterstock_230049568-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"shutterstock_230049568\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/shutterstock_230049568-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/shutterstock_230049568-685x1024.jpg 685w, https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/shutterstock_230049568.jpg 803w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/>Meteor showers occur when space rocks zip through the earth\u2019s atmosphere, leaving bright streaks in their wakes. Opportunities abound in 2015 to catch one of these shows, but TCNJ observatory technician and junior physics major Joe Avenoso says the Perseids (active July 17 to August 24) and Geminids (active December 7 to 17) promise the most spectacular viewing. <\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Here\u2019s how to enjoy the celestial show:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>&gt;<\/strong> <strong>Watch on nights around the peak. <\/strong>That\u2019s August 12\u201313<br \/>\nfor the Perseids and December 13\u201314 for the Geminids.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&gt;<\/strong> <strong>Ignore the predictions. <\/strong>Astronomers use a formula, the Zenithal Hourly Rate, to calculate the number of meteors a single observer can see at peak time. But the results are almost always on the high side, so don\u2019t be disappointed if you see fewer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&gt;<\/strong> <strong>Beware the moon.<\/strong> If it\u2019s quarter phase or greater it will block out meteors. A crescent moon during the Perseids\u2019 peak will make that shower a must-see; a not-so-bright moon that sets early during the Geminids\u2019 peak will make that show the year\u2019s best. So grab a blanket, lay back, look up, and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014Pete Croatto<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meteor showers occur when space rocks zip through the earth\u2019s atmosphere, leaving bright streaks in their wakes. Opportunities abound in 2015 to catch one of these shows, but TCNJ observatory technician and junior physics major Joe Avenoso says the Perseids (active July 17 to August 24) and Geminids (active December 7 to 17) promise the most spectacular viewing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":9238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,9,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-need-to-know-basis","category-on-campus","category-winter-2015"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}