The most-watched meteor shower of the year is coming back late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, and this year, stargazers may be treated to even more fiery streaks of light zooming across the night sky.
Under the right conditions, observers away from city light pollution are sometimes able to see an average of one and sometimes two Perseid meteors per minute, said Patrick Wiggins, NASA solar system ambassador to Utah.
“But this year,” he said, “NASA is predicting the possibility of an enhanced shower Wednesday morning between 2 and 3 a.m. mdt.”
The more frequent meteor sightings could happen if the Earth passes through what astronomers suspect to be a particularly rich pocket of meteor-producing particles cast off by the shower’s parent comet nearly 400 years ago in 1610.
Some Perseid meteors also may be seen in the dark hours just before and after Aug. 12, but Wednesday morning will be the best time because the Earth will be centered in…the meteoroid swarm.
This shower is called the Perseids because they appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus. This shower is one of the fastest moving, with meteors ripping into the atmosphere at 60 kilometers per second.
Viewers should not use binoculars or telescopes because it limits the view of the sky too much. “A lawn chair, the naked eye, and maybe a few munchies, are the best things for viewing meteor showers,” Wiggins said.
Remember – no beer! You’ll fall asleep.
Why does every meteor shower seem to peak at 3 in the morning? Would it kill them to show up before midnight for once?
You can see some before midnight. Sometimes I drive out beyond the city lights for the Perseids.One year I tilted the seat back in the convertible and counted 100 meteors in an hour. It is very impressive to people who haven’t seen it before. You can take them out in their own backyard to see meteors, and sure enough, there they are.
I’m excited because we moved out of the city during the past year. I caught a little of the Orionids last year by accident, but have really been waiting for the Perseids this year.
#1 – Jason
Because after midnight, the Earth is traveling into the flow of meteors. Before midnight, you are still on the backside, which is somewhat sheltered by the Earth. The leading side is where most of the impacts occur, and they can be most easily seen before sunrise. It can be better explained with a diagram.
Lay a big white sheet out in the yard. In the morning look for anything on the sheet…little specks of rock are the bounty.
# 4 Pete
Very interesting.
The shower is something to behold and enjoy with a loved one by your side. BTW, where did that graphic for this story come from, it’s awesome.
i recommend lying flat on the ground
with a small pillow for your head and that’s it.
amateur stargazers might also enjoy this super-slick triple platform, (Mac, Windows, Linux) open source 3-D Planetarium program:
Stellarium
http://stellarium.org/
-it’s free.
I’ve been using it for a few years..
it’s a beautiful program with excellent graphics and a slick GUI
to go with it.
it’s very slick..(it’s used to drive planetarium programs – has some 600,000 celestial objects in it’s database, plus addition databases you can download raising the catalogue
to 120million stars.. -you add your own objects as well.
it also has a the ability to steer your own telescope if your setup
with telescope hardware already.
open source means it’s customizable too. -you can add your own landscapes images, scripts, constellations etc..
-has Lore for many cultures.
you can set your location off planet too.. meaning you can see the viewpoint as if you were on the moon or mars. it even gives you a real mapped image of the planet to stand on/view from. –even features atmospheric controls.
enough yakking… download it.
careful though..if you like the sky, you can easily blow 5 hours traveling the stars with this program
Are y’all crazy? Didn’t you read that book “The Day of the Triffids”?
So, I set the alarm for the proper time with no beer etc. and stepped out the door and ran smack into that great bugaboo of astronomy…an overcast sky.
Will somebody please invent a cloud broom!
(or perhaps a really, really big version of one of those leaf blowers…)
should be now!
Speaking of Rorschach tests, ever tried to see constellations? Perseus is pretty hard. Anyway, it’s monsoon season here. Not a chance I’ll be looking at the meteor showers. But I’ve seen some pretty spectacular displays out in the west Texas deserts.
Ok #8, lets tone down the use of “slick” One per comment!
#8 From Wiktionary.. Shills on the internet – In online discussion media, satisfied consumers or “innocent” parties may express specific opinions in order to further the interests of an organization in which they have an interest, such as a commercial vendor or special-interest group.
I’m just Sayin’
Anyway, What bothers me about the stories I’ve read about this, they always say, look toward the Perseid constellation, the meteors will appear to be coming from there.
Well most of us normal people can’t make any real sense from that. I know my directions but the constellations are difficult to figure out. From what I read my best guess is look to the northeast after midnight.
Doesn’t matter though, with the half moon and all the smog in Northern California right now you can’t see crap right now. The sky actually looks brown tonight.
This could be a legitimate reason to reduce emissions, so I can see the damn stars!
Oh, the artwork on the story is nice, is that Medussa’s head in his hand? Reminds me to check the video store for a copy of Clash of the Titans! That was a great movie when I was a kid.
I guess there’s too much light here — I didn’t see a single one. Caught a good one in suburban Texas (Arlington) once back in the ’60s though. Up to 100 per hour!
Don’t cults off themselves during events like this? http://theonion.com/content/news/nation_about_due_for_big_cult
The haze (which developed into fog later) conspired with the last quarter moon to kill the night for me. I saw one shooting star. (west-central Ohio).
I took a few “fresh air” breaks and didn’t see a thing.
They shouldn’t call this a meteor shower… they should call it a CLOUD shower!
Seriously, all I could see last night was clouds. Not one single shooting star (or regular star!) for over three hours.