Perseids Meteor Shower

[jmr]

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.

Anyone else plan on spending the night gazing at the sky?

Peak time is from 10 pm August 11 into the following morning until 4 am.

[The Damned]

Stay up late, hang around outside in dark fields and maybe have an mp3 player going while I see pretty lights in the sky?

Sure, why not?

[Bleck]

hopefully I can actually see this it sounds pretty cool

though with my luck it'll rain

[SynthesizedStampede]

Wonder if I'll even be able to catch a glimpse of it considering I'm living in well-lit suburban Seattle. Thanks for the heads up though. (b'.')b

[jmr]

Looks like the weather won't be cooperating in my area:

Tonight..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of drizzle. Fog patches.

Tuesday..Overcast. 60 percent chance of drizzle along the coast.

Hopefully you guys get a better view.

[Tai_Zidek]

I work all night, so I might be able to catch it tonight on my lunch break. I did catch one a few years back walking from a Waffle House to my work, it was pretty cool.

[Sporknight]

Being stuck in the middle of Philadelphia with no car somewhat limits the chances of me seeing anything. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a group of people who are going out to see it though...

[starla]

Thank you so much for posting, i always love watching these but can never remember when they are. It's been hot lately so the sky should be pretty clear.

[DrumUltimA]

holy crap, an evening on the roof sounds amazing

too bad baltimore city lights are fucking GAY

[JCvgluvr]

My head will be turned skyward tonight.

[Aninymouse]

Cool thread man, thanks.

[Darth GourryGN]

I'm hoping to see it with my favorite female holding my hand.

[Nohbody]

Hahaaa floridians have it good. There is not a cloud in the sky throughout the entire south half of the state...just need to find somewhere without light pollution.

[Devyn]

I'm going to watch the perseids meteor shower after I shower with your MOM. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Lol.

[mattoco]

Well I woke up at 3 to catch the end of tonight's shower. Saw a few, more than I thought I would given the light pollution from the streetlights. Now back to bed so I can manage to make it through another 10 hour day without falling asleep at my desk.

I went out to a field with no lights whatsoever for last year's shower when I didn't have to work in the morning. Saw some really colorful ones there.

[Dhsu]

Caught quite a few streakers tonight. Very impressive.

I also saw some meteorites.

[starla]

^lulz

Same here, i saw a really big one streak horizontally, pretty cool stuff. Science!

[jmr]

Bump 'cause I didn't want to create a new thread.

The weather's not cooperating again this year; hopefully you guys get a better view.

[Kizyr]

Chance of thunderstorms around here. Doesn't look like it'll be a good view, but it could clear up.

What's the best time for viewing, by the way? KF

[jmr]

According to this, it seems the best time would be from 9 to 11 tonight:

The Moon is least troublesome during the early evening hours of August 11th. Around 9 to 11 p.m. local time (your local time), both Perseus and the Moon will be hanging low in the north. This low profile reduces lunar glare while positioning the shower's radiant for a nice display of Earthgrazers.

[DusK]

Clear skies all night. I've never actually felt glad I live in a rural area until now.

[Penfold]

Wonder if I'll even be able to catch a glimpse of it considering I'm living in well-lit suburban Seattle. Thanks for the heads up though. (b'.')b

I understand what you mean, though really it doesn't take much to get out of the city/light pollution (with a car at least).

[Meteo Xavier]

I'm always up for a good Meteo.

[DusK]

i c wat u did thar.

[mattoco]

I drove out to a field and caught last year's show; the streaks of orange and blue across the sky were most spectacular. This year since I'm in a less urban environment I will probably just hop out onto the roof and enjoy the show in the 70 degree weather (I guess there's finally a bright side to how hot it's been up here in the foothills).