OT - Perseid meteor shower this weekend

[Spacehead]

Yep, it's that time of year again as the Earth plows through the path of comet Swift-Tuttle. Peak time is Sunday night-Monday morning but you can see a few before & after peak times.

It's a new Moon weekend too, so here's hoping you have clear skies in your area :beer:

No work for me on Monday :beer:

The Perseid meteor shower has begun. Although the display will not peak until August 12th and 13th, sky watchers are already counting as many as a dozen meteors per hour (including some nice fireballs) during the darkest hours before dawn. Rates could increase 5- to 10-fold when the shower reaches maximum on Sunday night and Monday morning. Advice: Get away from city lights. While many Perseids will be bright enough to see from light-polluted urban areas, the shower's full grandeur is reserved for places with dark and starry skies. This is a good weekend to go camping.

Update
When observing the meteor shower, Mars will be in the picture. Link to more info & sky map

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

Thanks for the heads up! I know my kids will love it!

 

[BlackMountainCow]

 

[Assimilator1]

Cool ,though I'm just trying to work out what time peak time will be here ,seems like late Monday morning to afternoon ,which would be no good
I think I'd have to go at least 20 odd miles away to get even moderatly dark skies here ,that's at Dunsfold for anyone else in my area.

 

[RaySun2Be]

 

[Spacehead]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Cool ,though I'm just trying to work out what time peak time will be here ,seems like late Monday morning to afternoon ,which would be no good
I think I'd have to go at least 20 odd miles away to get even moderatly dark skies here ,that's at Dunsfold for anyone else in my area.

I don't know what the specific UT is for the actual peak, but generally when the constellation for a given meteor shower is highest in the sky for your location is the best time to observe.

 

[JonB]

Saw one streaker tonight (in the sky) at about 9pm. Didn't see another for 30 minutes. I'll try again in the morning and then Sat and Sun nights.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Spacehead

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Cool ,though I'm just trying to work out what time peak time will be here ,seems like late Monday morning to afternoon ,which would be no good
I think I'd have to go at least 20 odd miles away to get even moderatly dark skies here ,that's at Dunsfold for anyone else in my area.

I don't know what the specific UT is for the actual peak, but generally when the constellation for a given meteor shower is highest in the sky for your location is the best time to observe.

So when would that be then?

 

[JonB]

I just did some checking in my old Skyglobe program. Since the Perseid meteor show "comes out of the Perseus constellation" I located that first.
In Texas, at about 3am, Perseus is very close to the planet Mars. Both are in the Eastern sky and are rising ahead of the sun. Three hours earlier (at midnight), Perseus is below the horizon so viewing isn't great. If you know how to locate the Northern Star, Polaris, then you can locate Perseus this year by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris to Mars. If that imaginary line is 10 units long, Perseus is 3 units away from Mars.

Another way to picture this (for us Northern Hemisphere folks, anyway) is to look north at midnight. Off to your right (the East), the constellations (including Perseus) and the Sun and Moon, are in line to slowly rise. Between 2am to 4am, Perseus and Mars will be high enough above the horizon to be visible off to your. The majority of the Perseid meteor shower will seem to come "out of Perseus" though there are LOTS of strays. By 5am, it may start to get light and viewing gets bad quickly.

I have not adjusted for time - I am in Central Daylight Time. Compensate accordingly.

For you Southern Hemisphere folks, you'll have to be content with the Southern Cross. Perseus barely gets above the horizon for you. If you can locate Mars, though, look below it.

 

[Spacehead]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: Spacehead

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Cool ,though I'm just trying to work out what time peak time will be here ,seems like late Monday morning to afternoon ,which would be no good
I think I'd have to go at least 20 odd miles away to get even moderatly dark skies here ,that's at Dunsfold for anyone else in my area.

I don't know what the specific UT is for the actual peak, but generally when the constellation for a given meteor shower is highest in the sky for your location is the best time to observe.

So when would that be then?

If i got the correct info(Guildford - Lat 51.14N - Long 00.34W), and i'm reading this sofware correctly, Perseus should be just above the horizon for you, looking NE, as it's getting dark(around 10pm your time). So really, anytime after dark through the entire night.

 

[Spacehead]

I figured i'd better get out tonight(Sat.) because Sunday nights forecast isn't looking too good. There was a thin layer of clouds that rolled in after dark tonight even, but it was managable.

When out from around 11:30-12:30 & saw 8 meteors, 2 of which were not Perseids. Went out again from about 4-5:30 & saw 17, 3 or 4 of which were not Perseids & 6 satellites.

 

[Alyx]

I went out with a few friends to the beach on Sat night. I'm horrible at stars so we just watched for shooting ones rather than in a specific spot. We saw probably 1 a min for the first half hour, then trailed of to 1 every 5-10min so we left. We stayed on the beach for about 2 1/2 hours though and had a great time (although quite cold).

The trip went slightly crazy, I told 3 other people I was going and we were meeting at a local diner. I told 3 people we were leaving a local diner at 9:30 for the beach (but expected to leave at 10), we finally got away at 11:30 with 25 people, folks I've not seen in a year kept calling and saying they were one their way, I don't know how they heard we were going. Then since I'd only planned on 7 or so we had to change to a larger location with enough parking. In the confusion of a location change half of the people got amazingly lost. We finally got to the beach at 1am and stayed to almost 4.

 

[Assimilator1]

lol ,quite an adventure you lot had

Originally posted by: Spacehead

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: Spacehead

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
Cool ,though I'm just trying to work out what time peak time will be here ,seems like late Monday morning to afternoon ,which would be no good
I think I'd have to go at least 20 odd miles away to get even moderatly dark skies here ,that's at Dunsfold for anyone else in my area.

I don't know what the specific UT is for the actual peak, but generally when the constellation for a given meteor shower is highest in the sky for your location is the best time to observe.

So when would that be then?

If i got the correct info(Guildford - Lat 51.14N - Long 00.34W), and i'm reading this sofware correctly, Perseus should be just above the horizon for you, looking NE, as it's getting dark(around 10pm your time). So really, anytime after dark through the entire night.

Thanks
But I forgot all about it ,maybe tonight?