{"id":23481,"date":"2018-08-10T09:36:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T13:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=23481"},"modified":"2018-08-24T06:26:56","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T10:26:56","slug":"maryland-state-parks-offer-view-of-perseid-meteor-showers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2018\/08\/10\/maryland-state-parks-offer-view-of-perseid-meteor-showers\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland State Parks Offer View of Perseid Meteor Shower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stargazing Events Light up August Weekends<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Konstantinos Mamalis<\/p><\/div>\n

Several\u00a0Maryland state parks<\/a>\u00a0will offer opportunities to observe the Perseid meteor shower and other celestial vistas in August.<\/p>\n

Commonly referred to as \u201cthe Perseids,\u201d this spectacular display of meteors is one of the most popular astronomical events of the year. At peak Aug. 11-13, between 60 and 70 meteors per hour might be seen from the ground, depending on location and weather.<\/p>\n

The darker the location, the better the chance for the shooting stars to be visible, making state parks – areas devoid of light pollution –\u00a0ideal locations for viewing. And this year, the\u00a0dark “new moon”\u00a0arriving Aug. 11 should make viewing even better.<\/p>\n

Friday night, Aug. 10, Tuckahoe State Park<\/a> hosts a \u201cStar Party\u201d at Cherry Lane Pavilion, with events beginning at 7:30 p.m. Stargazing starts at 9:30 p.m. \u2014\u00a0visitors should bring a blanket, telescope or constellation app (and bug spray) to the baseball field between the campgrounds to watch meteor showers and spot constellations. The Delmarva Stargazers will be on hand to point out planets and other celestial bodies.<\/p>\n

The Fair Hill Nature Center inside\u00a0Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area<\/a>\u00a0will host \u201cStories of the Night Sky\u201d from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 11. In addition to viewing, environmental educators will present the stories behind the constellations. There is a fee to attend and\u00a0registration is required<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also Saturday,\u00a0Patapsco Valley State Park<\/a>\u00a0will host the Westminster Astronomical Society at the\u00a0Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area<\/a>. Visitors will have a prime opportunity to view the Perseids with provided telescopes.<\/p>\n

Later in the month\u00a0Cunningham Falls State Park<\/a>\u00a0will host stargazing from\u00a02-5 p.m.\u00a0Aug. 25 at the\u00a0Houck Area\u00a0South Beach<\/a>\u00a0and from 9-11 p.m.\u00a0at the\u00a0Dam Parking Lot<\/a>. Visitors will again have the opportunity to stargaze with the\u00a0Westminster Astronomical Society.<\/p>\n

An astronomy program will also be held Aug. 31 at\u00a0Point Lookout State Park<\/a>. Beginning at 8 p.m., visitors to Fort #3 will\u00a0enjoy great views of the Milky Way, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. Registration is required, so please call 301-872-5688 or\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0to reserve your spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stargazing Events Light up August Weekends Several\u00a0Maryland state parks\u00a0will offer opportunities to observe the Perseid meteor shower and other celestial vistas in August. Commonly referred to as \u201cthe Perseids,\u201d this spectacular display of meteors is one of the most popular astronomical events of the year. At peak Aug. 11-13, between 60 and 70 meteors per  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,12],"tags":[3571,3033,3127,2974,3410,4015,3138],"class_list":["post-23481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-parks","tag-astronomy","tag-cunningham-falls-state-park","tag-fair-hill-natural-resource-management-area","tag-patapsco-valley-state-park","tag-point-lookout-state-park","tag-soldiers-delight-natural-environment-area","tag-tuckahoe-state-park"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23481"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23522,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23481\/revisions\/23522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}