Posted on 08/11/2005 2:54:38 PM PDT by nickcarraway
NASA -- Got a calendar? Circle this date: Friday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "before sunrise" and "Meteors!" Attach all of the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2005 Perseid meteor shower.
The Perseids come every year, beginning in late July and stretching into August. Sky watchers outdoors at the right time can see colorful fireballs, occasional outbursts and, almost always, long hours of gracefully streaking meteors. Among the many nights of the shower, there is always one night that is best. This year: August 12th.
Really, it could hardly be better. The Perseids come on a warm summer night. (Note: This is a northern hemisphere shower.) Other familiar meteor showers like the Leonids of November require a parka to enjoy. All you need for Perseids are light pajamas.
And there's a bonus: Mars.
In the constellation Aries, right beside Perseus, Mars is shining like a bright red star. Step outside before sunrise, look east, and you'll find you have a hard time taking your eyes off Mars. There's something bewitching about it, maybe the red color or perhaps the fact that it doesn't twinkle like a true star. It's steady. You stare at Mars and it stares right back.
A Perseid sky map. The red dot denotes the shower's radiant, a point in the eastern sky from which meteors appear to stream. Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter on October 30th. Consider August 12th a preview. Mars already outshines every star in the night sky, and it's getting brighter every night. If you like August, you'll love October.
And you will like August. Picture this: It's four in the morning. The sky is dark. The breeze is pleasant. Mars is beaming down from the east while meteors flit across the sky.
Maybe you should go circle the calendar again.
Notes
The Perseids are a northern hemisphere meteor shower. Southerners can see Perseids, too, but at greatly reduced rates. All times mentioned in this story are local, so, e.g., "2 a.m." means 2 o'clock in the morning in your time zone.
Looks like rain tonight.
Here in the Hudson Valley of NY, you can be sure that every significant astronomical event - eclipses, meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, etc. will be totally hidden by clouds. I really want to move to AZ someday.
Does 2 a.m. mean tonight after midnite, or Fri. nite after midnite? I've stayed up for years to watch the shower, and it always has been great, but I don't know if it could have been even better because I've never known for sure which morning was the right one. HELP!!
Still haven't seen the first star of the season. Let us know how the meteors do this year.
Nice piece of writing. Did you do that?
Anyway, I'll be up for it.
2 a.m. Saturday morning.
It's tonight. Thursday night, Friday morning. The closer to mornign twilight tbe better.
correction 2 a.m. this morning..see you got me confused now! LOL
Thanks for posting this reminder! I'll be outside in my jammies on my lawn chair. Just one addendum: articles about the Perseid shower always talk about going to a low-light area, implying that you won't see anything if you don't. But almost every time I've observed it, it's been from an urban area with a lot of ambient light. But it's still a great show! Don't let being in an urban area put you off from watching it.
Thanks-and I'm sorry for the confusion.
Ooooh excellent. Just in time for my first coffee break at work, weather permitting.
I'm up at 5 every a.m. anyway, so I guess I'll have my coffee outside in the morning.
Thanks for the reminder. I dunno if we can see them here in the Bryan/College Station area, but I will give it a shot.
I recall the first time I ever witnessed the meteor shower, it was in August of 1977 near Athens, Texas. I was sitting out by a lake around midnight & I started noticing all these "shooting stars" every minute or so. Not until a few years later did I learn I had witnessed the Perseid meteor shower.
Most of the time since, the spectacle here in Texas is not so rewarding, but that year it was fantastic.
Actually, I saw my first August meteor shower when I was a kid in the 1950s, about 1956 or so, and I was amazed,I had never heard of about them and I thought something was wrong at first but I didn't care, I was going to watch if I died doing it. Great show and worth getting up early for!
We're planning to head out to the park in a few hours to watch the Perseids.
We watched the Leonids a few years ago, and that was a spectacular showing!
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