Meteor Shower This Weekend!
This info courtesy of Sky & Telescope Magazine
August is the best month overall to view meteors from the Northern Hemisphere, according to Robert Lunsford, operations manager of the American Meteor Society. And conditions are ideal this year because the Perseid meteor shower peaks on the new-Moon night of Sunday–Monday, August 12–13.
The Perseids are one of the two strongest and most reliable annual meteor showers. (The other is December's Geminids.) And while some showers produce brief bursts lasting just a few hours, the Perseids have a broad peak. So don't despair if clouds are forecast for Sunday night — or if work obligations prevent you from staying up until dawn on Monday.
Even now, a week before the peak, you can see up to a dozen Perseids per hour if conditions are perfect. That's stronger than some meteor showers at their best! The meteor rate increases to roughly 30 per hour in the predawn hours on Saturday, 45 per hour on Sunday morning, and 80 per hour before the sky starts to get light on Monday morning.
So stay up late or get up early this weekend, take a gander in the northern sky and watch the heavens come to life!
2 comments:
I saw one each night this weekend driving home from work at about midnight. I also saw one Saturday night at about 2:00 AM.....I guess that was officially Sunday.
Wish I would've seen more.
We went to see Brian's band play at CT Peppers in Broad Ripple and came home around 1. I didn't see a single meteor. DANG IT!
Check out the band website. They're awesome - check them out sometime. Brian plays drums and another friend of Brian's (and now us), Jason, plays guitar and sings:
http://throughbeingcool.com/
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