00:00Normally, Bernie, I'd say your head's in the clouds, but it's actually above the clouds as of recently.
00:05It is. You know what? I have a telescope. I've been looking at how we're going to terraform Mars.
00:10And, well, this is always my favorite segment.
00:13Before we talk about how I'm going to be the first meteorologist of Mars,
00:17November brings some dramatic events to the night sky, from shooting stars to a bright supermoon.
00:24And joining us with what to watch for is Professor Chris Palma,
00:28an astronomy and astrophysics professor at Penn State's Eberle College of Science.
00:32Good morning. Glad to have you back. We're going to start off with some comets.
00:36There's been a lot of chatter, by the way, about one in particular.
00:40What is it, and is it really an alien spaceship?
00:44So, I hope I'm not going to burst too many bubbles.
00:47We don't want people to know where I came from.
00:50Yeah.
00:50So, this thing, it's moving through our solar system really fast.
00:58It came from a different star system.
01:01It's passing through, and it's never going to come back again.
01:04And so, there are folks, every time we find things like this,
01:07this is the third one, that suggests perhaps this could be an alien spacecraft.
01:12But everything we've observed, it's a rock with ice on it.
01:17It has a standard comet tail.
01:19It looks everything like a comet should and nothing like a spaceship should, unfortunately.
01:25Unfortunately, there's a different view here.
01:28All right.
01:29The first meteor shower to watch is the Torrid's?
01:33Torrid's.
01:33Torrid's.
01:34The Torrid's.
01:35What makes them unique, and when is the best time to look?
01:38Torrid's, yeah.
01:40So, there's actually two Torrid showers, one right now, tonight, and then the next one a week from now.
01:48What makes this one special is that the bigger the piece of rock, the bigger the shooting star, right?
01:56So, if you've ever seen one before and it looks tiny, that was probably a grain of sand.
02:00But this particular shower has the capability of producing what are called fireballs, which are bigger, brighter.
02:06Sometimes you can actually hear them.
02:09You can see them explode.
02:11So, if we get lucky, we might see some what are called fireballs or bolides during the Torrid's this week and next week.
02:19Well, I'm a Taurus, so that's kind of exciting.
02:22All right.
02:22We're going to have a supermoon this month.
02:24So, what makes the moon super, and what can you expect to see?
02:27Sure.
02:29I feel like today is my, again, bursting bubbles discussion a little bit too much.
02:36I've said before with the supermoon, the moon is sometimes closer to us, sometimes further away.
02:43And if we happen to get a full moon on the night when the moon is closest to us, we get a supermoon, which is about 15% bigger than a standard full moon.
02:55You really have to make careful measurements to tell, so it's not going to look like you walk outside and go, oh, my goodness, this is the best moon I've ever seen in my entire life.
03:06But you can tell it's probably going to look a little bigger, a little brighter.
03:10But, again, any excuse to get people outside looking up at the moon is worth it, so please go look for it.
03:18The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks mid-month.
03:21How active will it be this year, and how can people get the best view?
03:26Yeah.
03:27For any meteor shower, your best option is after midnight.
03:32So, like, midnight to 2, 3 a.m. is probably about the best time to look.
03:37You want to have as much open sky as possible.
03:40So, if there's, like, a big open field so you can lay back and just look at the entire sky, that's the best way to see the meteor shower.
03:50The Leonids are famous because over history, some of the most intense meteor showers ever have come from the Leonids.
03:57But we don't expect this one to be out of the ordinary.
04:00But even so, you might see 10 or 15 over the course of an hour.
04:04So, if you're up after midnight and you have a nice view, this will be another shower where there's no bright moon.
04:12So, you'll have a better view of this one than, say, the Torrid's.
04:16I love fall because we've enabled the sky to get a little bit better to view.
04:20And when you put those blankets down, it's not as cold to watch up at the sky.
04:25Professor Chris Palma, an astronomy and astrophysics professor at Penn State's Eberly College of Science, thanks again for joining us.
04:32And I appreciate all the help you've given me with my telescope.
04:35And you know how I'm going to end it, Chris.
04:37We are Penn State.
04:40You're darn right we are.
