| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/4/2008 12:09:59 AM | Here's something to add to your calendars.
These are great to see ....
PERSEIDS
Predicted Maximum: August 12, 11:30 UT [= Aug. 12, 4:30am PDT; = Aug. 12, 7:30 am EDT])
Moon: Waxing Gibbous (moderate interference)
WHEN TO WATCH: Tuesday morning, August 12, from about 1:00 am until morning twilight gets too bright.
The Perseids are probably the most-watched annual meteor shower. The shower has a very long duration, from about July 15 through August 25. The shower is most interesting around its peak on August 12 or 13. This year, the peak comes on August 12 because of the leap year. The radiant is above the horizon the entire night for observers north of latitude 32N, but it is fairly low at the end of evening twilight. Evening Perseid rates are fairly low, and the bright Moon makes things worse this year. The real meat of the show comes during the predawn hours when the Moon is down and the radiant is high.
Predawn rates for observers with truly dark skies may exceed 100 Perseids per hour (West Coast of North America and/or Eastern Asia may be favored this year), with a nice sprinkling of sporadic and minor shower meteors added to the mix. Adjacent mornings from August 10 through August 13 are well worth watching, although rates will be significantly lower.
Perseids are fast meteors and tend to be fairly bright on average. An occasional fireball is seen. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/4/2008 3:43:13 PM | These are so beautiful. I can't wait to go to Alaska someday to experience it myself with a much better view in person. I have had a few tell me you can actually hear the light activity of these showers.
I'd like to think they are being sent from above specifically for the Bejing Olympics from the 8th through 25th. :o)  | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/4/2008 4:02:48 PM | | If its a dark moonless night you can see so much. One year we saw smoke trails left by the bigger ones. Find a dark site, bring bug spray, blanket and a bottle of you favourite beverage , lay back and relax..... | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/4/2008 7:10:46 PM | One of the best nights of Perseids I ever saw was in the early 1990s when the moon was out of the sky! This is definitely one of the best showers - only rivaled I think by the Geminids and the occasional Leonids around a storm time.
On that night, I also got a first observation of an asteroid (confirmed a couple nights later) in my telescope. Now the scope wasn't used for Perseid viewing. Just because it was dark and moonless.
Now, something to consider if you want to contribute a bit to science is join in a meteor count. A group of people get together in comfortable reclining lawn chairs arranged in a circle, feet out. The group monitors their own section of sky and counts the number of meteors they see. It leads to a final a Zenithal Hourly Rate which, year after year, allows you to keep track of the condition of the shower. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/4/2008 9:38:17 PM |
Do any fall to earth?
I'm sure they do. the ones that are to small will be burnt up but will still come down as particals. The biggers ones some time actually do make it to the ground. There are some meteor hunters that will go out in the salt flats, frozen lakes, or ice feilds to find them. Afer all if the ground has been covered for thousands or millions of year with snow,ice, or salt and you find a rock It most likely came form a meteor. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/5/2008 12:43:15 PM |
These are so beautiful. I can't wait to go to Alaska someday to experience it myself with a much better view in person. I have had a few tell me you can actually hear the light activity of these showers.
Sounds like you're confusing meteor showers with northern lights. The Perseids are meteors, shooting stars. Go out into the desert, far away from city lights, and you'll be able to see just as good a show there as you would in Alaska. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/5/2008 4:51:06 PM | 99.99999999 per cent wouldn't. They're the remnants of the comet's tail, dust and ice that is sublimated from the comet as it's approached and receded from its closest encounter with the sun. In this case, I believe it's Tempel 1. It's dust similar in size to what you see covering your television.
Most meteors that make the descent all the way down to the surface are usually asteroidal material from the inner solar system. Again, mostly. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 7/5/2008 5:09:12 PM |
It's dust similar in size to what you see covering your television.
I read that approximately 10% of that TV dust actually IS space dust. The rest...yuck.
Too bad about the moon this year, but I'll still be watching the show 'til dawn's early light. The Perseids always deliver. | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/8/2008 8:38:17 AM | Here on PEI there are a couple spots, esp on the North Side of the Island, where "we" can camp out with huge cliffs blocking the light of the moon - Thunder Cove comes to mind ;)
FYI - Last night at around 11:30pm I saw 3 shooting stars, one was Very bright.
Admittedly the moon doesn't favour us here in the East this year, but it's still a show worth viewing!
This is my fave Perseids Tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgI64IcVzhw&mode=related&search
Enjoy! | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/8/2008 10:14:05 AM | AlienSecret,
That is a great tip for the PEIers.
I have not seen any shooting starts yet, but have thought about it when the skies are clear when I walk my dog at night ... we have been having a lot of rain, so often it is cloudy as well.
I am hoping that it is not cloudy on the 12th .... at least it won't be a full moon like last year.
The tune you posted is good.
I like this one better though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXdjzFnabV4&feature=related | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/10/2008 5:17:57 PM | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXdjzFnabV4&feature=related
Agreed! That is a much better one!!!
Last night or this morning .. around 12:30 I saw 3 frikfrakfarkin awesome meteors! I'm hoping the sky will clear again tonight! and hoping my neighbours will have the light turned off!!! lol
thanks natural energy!
A.S.is
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/10/2008 9:05:45 PM |
I wonder if I'll be able to see it in New York, the light pollution is pretty bad here. *crosses fingers*
You can see the Milky Way clearly from the deck of my house... unless there's a full moon. Then you can only see it as a vague splash. :) Drop by, I'll even pour you a nice frosty beverage. (yeah, I know it's 2,000+ miles, but...) | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/11/2008 9:50:49 AM | Oooooo thats tonight. Forecast is calling for clear overnight! Awesome, going to have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!
Hmmmm nothing quite says sad as a single guy going to check out a meteor shower by himself late on a Monday night! Well on the plus side at least its not a Friday! | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/11/2008 9:54:59 AM | HesJustTHisGUyUKno,
You are right about that!
Not everyone will be crazy like us to watch this show ...... many people would rather sleep!
At least I have my furry friend to go with me!
... in the meantime ....... I say enjoy it any way you can! | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/12/2008 2:45:15 AM | I just came in from catching some falling stars! .... with the song "Catch A Falling Star" playing in the background! 
I got out late ..... so I will try again tomorrow.
I found this, so if you haven't seen them ... it is not too late!
I have a few falling stars in my pocket ... and will get more early tomorrow morning!
For those of you non-star gazers ............. I find the Perseid constellation more difficult to find than Caseopeia (The W in the sky!). Just look for the W, and just below it is Perseid ...... roughly ......... around there you fill see the meteors.
.ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2008) — The evening of the 12th August and morning of the 13th August is the annual maximum of the Perseid meteor shower.
At its peak and in a clear, dark sky up to 80 ‘shooting stars’ or meteors may be visible each hour. Meteors are the result of small particles entering the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed and in the case of the Perseid shower these come from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was last in the vicinity of the Earth in 1992. To the eye, the meteors appear to originate from a ‘radiant’ in the constellation of Perseus, hence the name Perseid.
Although the Perseids peak on the 12th August, the shower can be seen for some time either side of that date and it is worth looking out for them the night before (i.e. from the evening of 11th August). To see the meteor shower, look towards the north-eastern sky from 2200 BST onwards. In clear weather and away from the light pollution of major cities, it should be possible to see a meteor at least every few minutes, with most appearing as brief streaks of light. The waxing gibbous Moon will be in the evening sky but will have set by 0130 BST on the morning of the maximum so its light will not interfere with the view after that time.
Enjoy! | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/12/2008 6:22:27 AM |
Oooooo thats tonight. Forecast is calling for clear overnight! Awesome, going to have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!
Hmmmm nothing quite says sad as a single guy going to check out a meteor shower by himself late on a Monday night! Well on the plus side at least its not a Friday!
haha single gals are doing it to haha | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/12/2008 7:51:05 AM | Stupid clouds.... gargh. I really have to learn that the weather forcasters in the Calgary area are horrible!
Hey sugartwisted if you where in my area I would invite you along! | |
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| Perseids Meteor Showers - Aug 12, 2008
Posted: 8/14/2008 8:11:14 PM | A.S.is,
I hope you got to see some meteorites.
I was out early this morning and saw 9 in 45 minutes from my deck.
It was so quiet and peaceful! ... with a few bats flying around for bonus!
I may try to go out in a few hours again to see if there will still be some. | |
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