North Carolina Earth Science Resource Project: Astronomy/Meteorology

Astronomy
Astronomical Events:
Here is a list of meteor showers that took place in the year of 2010 along with its speed. (MPS-Miles Per Second)
Janurary 3-4: Quadrantids 25.5 MPS
April 21-22: Lyrids 29.8 MPS
May 5-6: Eta Aquarids   N/A
June 14-16: Lyrids   N/A
July 28-29: Delta Aquarids   25.5 MPS
July 29-30: Capricornids   15 MPS
August 12-13: Peresids   N/A
October 8-9: Draconids N/A
October 21-22: Orionids   41.6 MPS
November 17-18: Leonids   N/A
December 13-14: Geminids   N/A

Quite a bit of meteor showers predicted to happen in 2011 are just about similar to this calender that happened in 2010.

Pictured here is a "shooting star" or otherwise a meteor.
Its tail is pointed away from the sun.

Meteor Showers are events when meteors can be seen falling through the earths atmosphere. It happens a few select times a year and many people like to view them because of the show it puts on. Whenever you think you see a shooting star, you are watching part of a meteor shower. Meteor showers are caused by meteors that are drifting through space and get attracted to the earths atmosphere. Most usually burn up in the atmosphere, however some stay all the way to the ground and can cause a major impact.

Eclipses are known as events when the moon doesn't reflect the suns light, or when the moon crosses with the sun and takes away part of the suns light on earth. A lunar eclipse is when the earth casts a shadow on the moon in which the moon cannot reflect the suns light. To us, it looks as though it completely dissapears. The most recent lunar eclipse took place on December 21, 2010, and as NASA predicts, it will take place on June 15, 2011 (full Lunar Eclipse)

A picture of a solar eclipse occuring.
The black circle is the moon,
and the light glowing around
is from the sun.

A solar eclipse is when the moon gets in the path of the sun in a certain area, and blocks sunlight out to the spot it is over. It looks like a black hole with sunlight surrounding it. The last full solar eclipse took place on July 11, 2010 in place as south as Antartica, and not a full solar eclipse will take place in the year of 2011. As you can see in the picture beside this text, it looks like a black hole with light gleaming around it. This is what a solar eclipse looks like, though it only happens in a designated spot and only lasts a few minutes. This is the rarest type of eclipse but probably the most unique looking.

A constellation can be a group of stars, or any other celestial body, that seem to form a pattern in the sky. Their are several types of these constellations all over the universe, though many can be seen here from earth. One example of a constellation can be the "Big Dipper". Also, their are space clouds that can develop into constellations, including the Emu, which is a dark cloud. Most constellations are seen in the southern hemisphere since it faces a place in the Milky Way that just happens to have more constellations.

North Carolina will experience a stronger Lunar Eclipse on December 10, 2011 then what happened back on December 21, 2010. However, North Carolina will also get the strongest portion of a Lunar Eclipse on June, 15, 2011. North Carolina is also predicted to see some meteor showers soon, relatively in the same pattern as shown on the graph at the top of the page, just a few days different.

Meteorology
Some of the meteorological features of North Carolina are its climate and natural disasters. Because of location, North Carolina has an always-changing climate throughout the year, and its spot next to the Atlantic Oceans leaves is exposed to disasters, mostly Hurricanes. Come and take a look at Meteorology in North Carolina.

Pictured above is a graph featuring the climate zones
of NC. They are seperated by County. Most are mixed-
humid.

North Carolina's location makes it one for some hot summers, and some chilly winters. In summer, it gets its good share of thunderstorms and hurricanes, though it also receives a lot of rain from July-August. North Carolina is right on the Atlantic Coast, so this could be an attribute as to why North Carolina receives this type of weather. The state is shielded by the Appalachin Mountains, so continental air mass doesn't play as much of a role in the winter. Most of the state usually receives rain in winter, while the mountains get the blow of continental air mass so that it receives more snow then rain in winter. In summary, North Carolina has a humid and moderate climate.

Natural Disasters are also a huge roll in the states meteorology. Most of the disasters in North Carolina are hurricanes, because of its location along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. However, North Carolina also does experience flooding from time to time, and the mountains can experience some winter storms. The Tarheel state also may experience 2 or 3 tornados a year in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. Natural Disasters don't take too much of a toll on most North Carolinians, but they are always prepared for the unexpected.

Pictured here is Hurricane Floyd while over North Carolina and several other states.

Sources:
http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/index.php/year/2010 - The Skyscrapers, Inc.
All of my 2010 Meteor Shower information came from this website. I was very pleased with their information.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html - NASA
The information I got from this website was only when eclipses happened and when they will take place, and the NC eclipse. It was helpful, and correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation - Wikipedia
I looked to Wikipedia again for helping me learn about constellations. What they are, how they work, and what types of constellations their are.

North Carolina Earth Science by Prentice Hall
The textbook gave me a lot of information about the things I needed to know for North Carolina.