Reminder: the Persied Meteor Shower peaks tonight

[DrewKnight]

Looking out at the clearing skies in Boston -- maybe some of us will get a peek at the shooting stars tonight. The peak will be in the hours after midnight, looking to the north, I think... but once it's dark, if the clouds have broken up, you have a pretty good shot of seeing them.

Even as early as last Saturday night, my kids and I saw a four or five in a short time.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Looking out at the clearing skies in Boston -- maybe some of us will get a peek at the shooting stars tonight. The peak will be in the hours after midnight, looking to the north, I think... but once it's dark, if the clouds have broken up, you have a pretty good shot of seeing them.

Even as early as last Saturday night, my kids and I saw a four or five in a short time.

Sorry, but the peak was last night!

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/22jul_perseiddawn.htm

"The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center."

Tonight still could show a few good ones though...

 

[forestgnome]

Thanks for the heads-up, and thanks to TR for the link. The clouds might allow a few tonight, but the Perseids are noted for dying quickly after a slow build-up to the peak activity, which was this morning.

Clear Skies !

 

[DrewKnight]

Huh, different sources say different things...

I actually did go check, because it wasn't clear to me, Tom... What I found was "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."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080808123912.htm

I sat out for a few minutes before midnight, but the moon was very bright and there was a high, thin cloud layer, so I only saw one shooting star. A friend (who DIDN'T have to be up at 5:30) was out an hour later and said the show was spectacular.

For what it's worth -- anecdotally, I have heard that, at least for the winter shower (Leonids?) the night after the peak, the frequency is apparently lower but the actual meteors are more spectacular. Worth going back out late tonight just to see...

 

[Tom Rankin]

I only saw 4 in 15 minutes last night. I saw 3 or 4 from the Aquarids too.

 

[forestgnome]

Well, Drew was right...http://www.spaceweather.com/

I wasn't up to speed with the Perseids this year because there was no hope of clear skies. Looks like they peaked well on the 13th this year.

Here's one from last year's shower, slashing through the Big Bear (Big Dipper)

Clear Skies!