Nature Pick: Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

"I'll toss my coins in the fountain,

Look for clovers in grassy lawns

Search for shooting stars in the night

Cross my fingers and dream on."

~ Tracy Chapman

Lincoln, Montana is lucky enough to see two varieties of shooting stars over the course of the year. Dodecatheon pulchellum, also called the darkthroat, pretty, or prairie shooting star, is native to Montana and shows up in early spring. The meteoric variety of shooting star is visible locally in the night sky with multiple showers through the end of the year.

The name Dodecatheon pulchellum derives from the Greek for "dodeka," meaning twelve, and "theoi," meaning gods, so named as plants protected by the gods, according to the Forest Service webpage for the Black Hills National Forest. "Pulchellum" comes from the Latin word meaning pretty or beautiful.

Shooting stars have five reflexed petals, which means the petals are bent totally back, causing the flower to resemble a rocket or shooting star. Most often, the flowers are a bright magenta, but sometimes a cluster of white flowers will grow in the same population.

They're described as early spring wildflowers, and will be one of the first flowers to bloom in Lincoln, preceded usually by a buttercup or other early-blooming flower. They tend to grow on plains, hills, and mountain sides, according to the Forest Service website.

In town, they're usually visible to the east of Sucker Creek Road in late April and early May. Upsata Lake and Kleinschmidt Flat usually boast displays of shooting star flowers in the spring.

While residents wait for Dodecatheon pulchellum to bloom next spring, they can look to the night sky for meteor shower displays throughout the winter. Showers throughout the remainder of 2020 include the Southern and Northern Taurids showers, the Leonids, Geminids, Ursids, and Quadrantids.

What are meteors? When meteoroids (small chunks of asteroids or comets that have broken off) enter the Earth's atmosphere, they vaporize into a streak of light across the sky called a meteor, according to NASA.

Meteors from a single shower will all have their tails pointing back to a single area in the sky. Meteor showers are named for the constellation from which it appears the meteors are coming, states the NASA website.

For the Taurids meteor showers, NASA says the best time to look is after midnight, when the constellation Taurus is well above the horizon. For the Leonids, NASA also recommends viewing after midnight, facing east. "It is actually better to view the Leonids away from the radiant: They will appear longer and more spectacular from this perspective," notes the NASA website.

The Southern and Northern Taurids meteor showers overlap from Oct. 20 - Nov. 20, which can create a notable increase in fireball activity, according to the American Meteor Society. Peak activity for the Northern Taurids will Nov. 11 and 12.

The Leonids are also active in November, with peak activity on the 16 and 17. While 2020 isn't expected to be a peak year, there may be "peaks of around 15 shower members per hour. The Leonids are often bright meteors with a high percentage of persistent trains," the American Meteor Society notes. The moon will be at just five percent during this peak activity, making meteor visibility easier. Leonids meteors may be colorful, according to NASA, and move at a speed of 44 miles per second.

Recommended book and movie pairing for meteor watching: Stardust by Neil Gaiman