Oh say can you see (a meteor shower, that is)?

Happy Independence Day to our U.S. readers!  With all the fireworks celebrations in and around our neighborhood the last few days, our thoughts have turned skyward to ooh and aah over the colorful explosions.

It also made us wonder what astronomical events we might experience while we're in the middle of the U.S. on our trip next year. We enjoy the Geminid meteor shower each December, especially when we are able to view it from somewhere like the Star-gazing Observation Platform at the state park at St. George Island, Florida. Here's how their website describes conditions:

Enjoy the wonderful stargazing opportunities with the darkest skies for miles around. An observation platform provides the perfect perch for night visitors to see stars, planets and other celestial bodies. The Gulf of Mexico provides 180 degrees of no light pollution and the closest metropolitan areas are over 70 miles away. These conditions allow stargazers to see the Milky Way and some of the fainter constellations.

Of course the optimal viewing time for the Geminids is past my bedtime, so I was excited to learn that there is an annual meteor shower that is best viewed during the pre-dawn hours while we will be somewhere in Kansas.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower, caused by Halley's Comet, is visible from late April through mid May. EarthSky.org has a good illustration of where to look in the constellation Aquarius to start watching for the meteors.  Aquarius is one of the constellations that is a little more difficult to find, but this video from Learn the Sky is informative and provides good tips for getting your sky-bearings.

When I was a young girl, I wanted a telescope so much. I remember spending so much time just looking at the ones in the display case at K-Mart and calculating just how many weeks I would need to save my 50-cents a week allowance to have enough to buy it. I never did save up enough to buy my own. But I'm happy enough using an astronomy app when I want to star gaze or wonder what that is twinkling in the sky. I used Night Sky for many years on my 2010 iPad, but there are several others that have good reviews in the Google Play store / Apple store for more up-to-date devices.

Do you have a favorite sky-gazing app? If so, let us know in the comments. I want to find a good one before we travel.

~ Cindy D.