LJWorld.com weblogs Dangerous Ideas
Posted
by Paul Decelles
August 11, 2009 at 3:41 p.m.
Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight and Tomorrow Night
Tonight and Tomorrow night should be the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Supposedly the best time to look is between midnight and 5am according to this article in Space.com. .
This shower consists of remains from Comet Swift Tuttle. The article reports some astronomers as saying this ought to be an intense storm. But my experience has been that predicting the intensity of meteor showers is a bit like predicting the weather in Kansas.
One of my fondest early memories is going out with my sister to watch the meteor shower. When she was growing up she was interested in astronomy. This was the time of the 1958 international geophysical year and she clipped every newspaper article about IGY events.
Here is a partial sky map courtesy of NASA. The viewer is looking north east.
perseid_map2.gif
from: NASA http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/31jul_perseids2009.htm?list196941
So probably north or west of the City should give the best viewing. The moon will obscure fainter meteors but you still should be able to see some. I am going to experiment taking pictures, but there just may be too much moonlight for that. However the shower has produced some really bright meteors so the experiment seems worth it.
If the weather holds, take your kids and yourselves out and have a look. Even though the greatest frequency of meteors is after mid night it is worth looking earlier, say around 9 pm. Try to get to the country away from city lights. Supposedly the meteors can appear any where in the sky but trace back to the constellation Perseus.
By the way, if you miss tonight and the peak tomorrow there ought to be some Perseid activity tapering off through the 15th. You can also get information on current Perseid activity at http://spaceweather.com/ . This site seems to be getting a lot of traffic right now so be patient.
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Comments
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3ofClubs (anonymous) says…
As an amateur astronomer, I'm planning to be out in my backyard tonight! We have fairly dark skies here on the NW side of Lawrence. According to the last look I took at the satellite map, there should be almost no cloud cover tonight. Great observing opportunity.
The waning moon doesn't rise until about 10:30 pm, so moonlight should not interfere with most early bird observing. Sunset tonight is around 8:30 pm.
Also, look for the very bright planet Jupiter as it rises in the SE sky about 8:30 pm tonight. It's hard to miss as it arcs across the southern sky.
Thanks for putting out this information, Paul - and don't forget the bug spray!
Clear skies to all.
Isabelle (anonymous) says…
Thanks-Keep posting!!! I love to watch the sky.
pdecell (Paul Decelles) says…
3 of clubs,
Just came in for the night. Did see a nice bright meteor right around mid night but unfortunately my camera wasn't pointed toward that spot in the sky so no pics. And yes I completely forgot about the bug spray. We have BIG mosquitoes here.
Hopefully tomorrow is as good sky wise since I dont have to go in to work quite so early on Thursday.
If anyone gets any pics, post them some where, and send the link, or e-mail them to me and I will put them in a blog post.
overthemoon (anonymous) says…
I have a particular fondness for this meteor shower as it always falls on my birthday! Nice gift form the universe!
We went to Lone star last night around midnight and maybe caught one meteor in the south skies. (out of the corner of your eye, sometimes its hard to be sure!) Even out at the lake, the light pollution from Lawrence and Topeka is a problem.