Tucson Sky Adventures
Most don’t see the true wonders of a full night sky. The night sky is just covered up by the clouds of yellow light. But how does this happen? How can light affect what you see when usually it’s the thing that helps you see? Well it’s simple; light pollution.
Light pollution is an illusion. Light pollution happens when many objects that give off light join together. The conjoining of multiple light radiant objects creates a flashlight effect. The amount of light that radiates from these conjoined objects distorts colors of the night sky, resulting in the bright yellow glow in the skies; light pollution.
Light pollution can be annoying if you love to stargaze, or if you just want to sleep in a dark environment. For most stargazers (including me) light pollution plays a big factor when it comes to stargazing. As light pollution messes with the night sky colors, it also interferes with the visibility of the stars behind it.
With this information, I shall tell you of the wonders of stargazing in Tucson throughout the years.
Do you know what a satellite flare is? Well if you don’t… A satellite flare is essentially when a satellite reflects the sunlight off of its solar panels. Depending on the color of the panels (white / silver or yellow / orange) will depend on the color of the flare seen in a satellite flare. Satellite flares aren’t very common, however, they were in 2013 with the famous: Iridium Satellite Flares. The Iridium satellite chain was made of 72 probes all of them having big solar panels. In 2013, the quantity of these satellites peaked at 75+ probes. Sadly, the launch of the 10 last Iridium probes were launched in 2019.
I myself had witnessed a satellite flare, though because they are rare, I have only been able to see one in my 2 years of stargazing. I watched as a faint white dot began to slowly turn orange as it began to glow and expand to a big bright yellow satellite flare. It only lasted for a brief moment because the sun was already under the horizon. But being able to see just one of these satellite flares is enough, for it is something that can only be captured in your eyes. A special and rare moment you can share with anyone; satellite flares.
Even though satellite flares seem rare and special, something equally as special but not as rare is the sight of the seasonal meteor showers. Meteor showers actually don't come to us, but instead we go to them. Meteors are kind of the remnants of a huge comet that had orbited the sun. As the comet begins to break into more and more pieces, a huge elliptical orbit made from rocks and stones of a comet is formed. As Earth rotates around the sun, Earth’s halo orbit can sometimes line up on the same plane as these huge elliptical orbits of rock. Then the Earth rotates around the sun and approaches the meteors. Meteor showers can be seen for a few nights before Earth gradually drifts away from the meteor belt.
Watching these meteor showers is like watching a movie; spectacular. Occasionally, you may have a multi-color meteor shower season. And very rarely will you get a rapid meteor shower (where you can see meteors rain down from the sky at a max rate of 120 an hour or 2 a minute). As I lay on a carpet placed on my balcony, I can sit there for hours, just watching rocks the size of tea cups, rain down appearing the sizes of London busses. You can see this for yourself, watching a very bright meteor cross your eye; fading into view for a brief moment only to vanish into the light polluted sky.
All of these space events are what makes space so special and unique. Space isn’t an empty abyss with no movement or action, but rather a place filled to the brim with astonishing sights and mind blowing views. Like wonders of the world, it is something everyone wants to see. And to follow the rockets as they rise above the atmosphere to see such amazing things is hard to explain. It’s either a moment of fear, or a lifetime of regret. Would you want to go on a trip to outer space?
Original Document: Tucson Sky Adventures : Trip Down Memory Lane
By Dev Team: Astron
