Courtesy Medicine Hat Astronomy Club

By Lisa Parent

Unique meteor shower to illuminate Medicine Hat sky Saturday night

Aug 11, 2023 | 4:58 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – During warm summer nights, a venture into the countryside with a blanket and a view of the stars can be peaceful. However this Saturday, stargazing will be taken to exciting new heights. The Perseid Meteor shower will be gracing the sky in a showing expected to be better than ever.

“What happens is the Earth crosses the path of some debris in space. The debris in space for the Perseid meteor shower is from Comet Swift Tuttle, which is a comet that goes around the sun once every 133 years,” said James Paulson of the Astronomy club.

Paulson said the Astronomy Club is prepared to capture the beauty of the meteor shower with telescopes and cameras.

“Some of our members take wide field photographs with stationary cameras and timed exposures. So they’ll do an exposure of 20 seconds, and they’ll do that all night long hoping to catch a few trails as it goes overhead,” mentioned Paulson.

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However according to Paulson, fancy technology isn’t really needed to watch the showers.

He says Hatters should just bring a few comfort items with them, “a lawn chair, so they can recline and look up at the sky in, a blanket and maybe something warm to drink if it’s a cool night. Binoculars are nice, just the naked eye is fine too.”

The Astronomy Club event is private, but Police Point Park interpretive center is hosting a public meteor watch party.

“We are going to go out to the Echodale Viewpoint. So, the very last right before you enter Echo Dale, which is according to NASA the best one of the year, so I’m very excited about it,” said park interpreter Isaiah Hurlburt.

Hurlburt says the event should be one-of-a-kind, with a dim moon and forecasted clear skies,

“Well the Perseids are known for something called their fireballs, which are basically meteors that will be extra bright and last for extra long, along with be having more extravagant colors. So it should be pretty unique in terms of meteor showers,” Hurlbut explained.

Park interpreters will be at the event to offer insight on the comet. For those not wanting to nerd out, James Paulson says stargazing can hold many different allures.

“It’s always any night that you spend under the stars, is a good night to contemplate why we are on this earth. That’s how I look at it,” said Paulson.

The Interpretive Center viewing party starts Saturday night from 11:30pm until 1am.