The Conservative Cave
Interests => The Science Club => Topic started by: CG6468 on August 12, 2011, 09:23:23 AM
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Meteors set to put on a show
CBC News
The annual Perseid meteor shower takes centre stage this week, painting the night sky with glowing streaks of light. The spectacle begins every year in mid-July and lasts through August, but the best time to take in the show this year is when the meteor shower peaks on Friday night and early Saturday.
Unfortunately, the glare of the full moon will make it hard to see some of the more modest meteors this year. The best viewing time is expected to be just before dawn on Saturday, when the moon will be low in the sky.
The Perseids appear to originate from a point within the constellation Perseus. The number of meteors visible in the sky tends to increase as the night wears on.
According to NASA, more than a dozen meteors per hour were already visible by Tuesday.
For those who don't want to stay up until dawn, the few meteors that are visible early in the night may also be some of the most brilliant. Astronomers call these meteors earthgrazers. Long, slow and colourful, they approach from the horizon and skim along the atmosphere much to the viewer's delight.
LINK to article (http://sync.sympatico.ca/news/meteors_set_to_put_on_a_show/708fa0f7)
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The wife and I usually bring out a blanket and watch for as long as we can. We don't have much of a "window" on the sky because of trees on our property, but we usually see a few every year.
With the full moon this year, we'll give it a shot till it washes out the sky too much.
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Same here. Surrounded by trees.
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And it's times like this I like living in the middle of nowhere. It gets extremely dark here so view stuff like this is often very, very easy.