DALLAS — The Aurora Borealis and the Perseid Meteor Shower illuminated the North Texas sky on a mid-August night.
A stunning time-lapse out of Dodd City, Texas showed the night sky early this week. The video starts by highlighting the stars. It was easy to spot the meteors from the Perseid Meteor Shower. Then came the show stopper - bright Northern Lights coinciding with the shooting stars.
The Perseid Meteor Shower
The Perseid shower is a must-see event for skywatchers and it happens about the same time every year.
This meteor shower is caused by Earth moving through debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. As these tiny particles enter our atmosphere they create the bright streaks of light we call meteors. This year, the peak of the Perseid shower was from August 11-13 with up to 100 meteors per hour during the peak. Although the peak has passed, it is not too late to watch the meteors. The Perseids can generally be spotted from late July through early September.
Optimal Viewing Conditions
The Perseids are best viewed in the pre-dawn hours when the sky is darkest. For those in Dallas, the best spots to catch the meteor shower are areas with minimal light pollution, such as Cedar Hill State Park. Other than finding a dark spot, make sure to give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. Allow yourself 10-20 minutes so that you can see the fainter meteors.
Can you see Northern Lights in Texas?
Are you hearing more about the Northern Lights?
We are in a particularly active solar pattern, which means frequent solar storms. The sun goes through active and less active periods in roughly 11-year cycles.
Solar storms send ions and electrons toward the Earth at a million miles per hour. Most of these electrons bounce off of the Earth's protective magnetic field. Sometimes electrons still manage to get through where the magnetic field is the weakest - the north and south poles.
Electrons then interact with oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere. This interaction gives off energy in the form of lights causing the beautiful phenomenon we witnessed in Texas earlier this week.
If the solar storms are strong enough, the electrons travel towards the lower latitudes. While it's not clear when they might be spotted again in North Texas, it's not out of the realm that we can see them as far south as here -- like we did this week.